From the East

1993 [FRENCH]

Action / Documentary

6
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 79% · 4 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 79% · 50 ratings
IMDb Rating 7.2/10 10 1119 1.1K

woman director

Plot summary

Scenes of life in Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. In this road movie of still lifes, which eschews voiceover narration, the camera explores the landscapes and the faces of the people who live in them.

Director

Chantal Akerman Photo
Chantal Akerman

Top cast

Natalia Chakhovskaia Photo
Natalia Chakhovskaia as Self
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
1.02 GB
1280*922
French 2.0
NR
Subtitles fr  
24 fps
1 hr 55 min
Seeds ...
1.9 GB
1488*1072
French 2.0
NR
Subtitles fr  
24 fps
1 hr 55 min
Seeds 4

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by nalasa1 7 / 10

Where and why?

Chantal Akerman's film is a sort of documentary of Eastern Europe and Russia after the Berlin Wall fell and Communism was basically abolished. You are shown beautifully filmed winter pictures in various countries with crowds of people waiting for buses and/or trains. Some scenes are quite effective: a long sequence in some train station, people dancing in some club. Most of the faces Akerman shows look unhappy. I have heard some Eastern Europeans say that they were at least secure under Communism but were left in the lurch when they had to immediately fend for themselves. I suppose that is Akerman's point. What bothered me most was that I had no idea where the filming was taking place. In what country or city where were the streetcars and snow covered roads? As a traveler, I found this quite frustrating. Occasionally you hear people shouting in some language but there is no translation.
Reviewed by runamokprods 8 / 10

Fascinating experimental documentary capturing a unique moment in recent history

This 1993 film by Chantal Akerman resembles some of her best early experimental work from the 1970s, especially 'Hotel Monterey'. This is a truly non-narrative film. Just a series of images from across Russia; often slow, amazingly long tracking shots (probably made from a car, but somehow rock steady), intercut with some long stationary wide angle shots, and shots of people in rooms, clearly staged. There's no dialogue and almost no music, only the incidental sounds of the place being photographed. The film is clearly a comment on how lost Russia was at that moment in history after communism fell – a lifetime of one ideology was suddenly gone, and nothing new had yet taking it's place. We see it in the faces - every person looks like they're waiting for something. The only problem for me was the length. At 110 minutes both images and ideas, terrific though they were, started to feel repetitive. That said, I'd gladly re-visit and see if a second viewing, knowing now what the style of the film is, would be easier to settle into, and get lost in.
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