Product Details

• Actors: Grigory Dobrygin, Sergei Puskepalis
• Directors: Alexei Popogrebsky
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: Russian
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Film Movement
• DVD Release Date: May 10, 2011
• Run Time: 124 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B003MTAZCO
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,393 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

On a desolate island in the arctic circle two men work at a small meteorological station taking readings from their radioactive surroundings. . One day while sergei is out inexper ienced pavel recieves terrible news for sergi from hq. Intimidat ed pavel cant bring himself to disclose the information. Studio: Repnet Llc Release Date: 05/03/2011

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A mesmerizing, thought-provoking study of human behavior, January 18, 2011

By 

navissima - See all my reviews

This review is from: How I Ended This Summer (DVD)

This festival hit (Best Actor Award at Berlin Film Festival and Best Film at London Film Festival) from Alexei Popogrebsky, one of the most talented directors in contemporary Russian cinema, follows two men working at the distant and isolated meteorological station in the midst of chillingly beautiful Arctic Circle.

Sergei (Sergei Puskepalis, star of Popogrebsky's earlier film "Simple Things") is an experienced professional, grim as the Arctic mountains around him, but thoroughly dedicated to his work. Younger meteorologist Pavel (Grigory Dobrygin) joins him at the station for a few months, equipped with video games, MP3 player and IT skills. Sergei is domineering and tough, treating Pavel more like a military in training, than a colleague.

One day in Sergei's absence Pavel receives dreadful news from the base station that would change the course of their lives and put to the test the very essence of humanity.

A truthful, clever deconstruction of human's behavior, consciousness and kindness versus weakness and cowardice.

The DVD comes with a terrific short film from Bosnia, First Day of Peace, a heart-breaking expose of the absurd, senseless horror of war.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ah, life on the tundra!, May 9, 2011

By 

Chris Swanson "I'm just this guy, you know?" (Phoenix) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How I Ended This Summer (DVD)

(special thanks to Film Movement for providing me with a screener!)

Ah, Russia. Land of vodka, cold weather, dour poets, cold weather, beautiful women who turn into withered peasants seemingly overnight an very freaking cold weather. You ever wonder why they sold Alaska to us? Because who needed even more cold land?

This latest release from Film Movement takes place on a remote island in the far North Eastern part of Russia. The island is home to a small weather monitoring station maned long-term by Sergei and short-term by Pasha. Sergei is a man in his fifties who seems to be made of rock and Pasha looks like your basic graduate student living on the tundra to accumulate life experience. That they are not a great match is something of a given.

One day Sergei receives word his wife and young son are flying to a nearby area to meet him. He's cheerful after this news and decides to go out fishing for a day. While he's gone, Pasha receives unhappy news that comes as no surprise to anyone who has seen a movie before. This news would be devastating to Sergei, so Pasha tries to hide it, first out of an effort to spare the man's feelings, and then out of simple fear. Needless to say, he's not able to keep this news secret forever and soon things take an unpleasant turn...

This was a very good movie. I've not seen much Russian cinema, basically only this and Russian Ark, but I really liked it. The director did a very good job of showing the coldness, isolation and uncertainty on an island where at any minute you can be eaten by a polar bear or freeze or starve.

I do feel that the director could have trimmed 10 - 15 minutes of shots from the film and tightened it up considerably. There's a shot that takes about three minutes that's nothing of a man walking into a gradually clearing fogbank, and while that was great for setting the scene, it did go on a bit. And while there were certain things in the film that I didn't really understand (like the presence of a large, radiation emitting device that doesn't really get explained), I still really enjoyed the movie.

Like I said, I haven't seen much Russian cinema, but if much of it is like this, it sounds like I have a lot of catching up to. A really great film!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Psychological thriller.... Russian style, April 21, 2011

By 

Paul Allaer (Cincinnati) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How I Ended This Summer (DVD)

Let me start off by saying that I have become a huge fan of the Film Movement library of foreign and indie movie releases, which Film Movement issues monthly. I have rarely been disappointment by their selection, and wasn't by this one.

"How I Ended This Summer" (130 min.; originally released in 2010) is an excellent psychological drama, Russian style. The story's premise seems simple enought. Two men, Sergei in a senior and Pavel in a junior position, work at an isolated meteorological station on an Arctic island. While Sergei is on an unauthorized fishing trip, Pavel is informed that Sergei's family has been in an accident. Pavel is supposed to tell this to Sergei, but he does not. Things evolve from there, and I'm not going say much more about the story, but hang on to your seat for the last hour or so of the movie, just fantastic. Aside of the story line, major kudos for the photography of this film, which is just outstanding, bringing the isolation of the Artic beautifully. Completely aside, some of the movie's tone and texture reminded me of Stanley Kubrick's 1980 movie "The Shining".

In all, I loved this movie, and it attests to the great movies that come out of Russia on occasion. I will immediately add that this movie isn't for everyone. The first hour of the movie moves at snail's pace, MILES away from your standard Hollywood mainstream fare. If that doesn't scare you away, by all means, check this movie out, you won't be disappointed.