Konstantin Lavronenko provides the film with a menacing, glowering backbone, the return of the mythical fatherland who seems interested only in typically masculine, overtly cruel rites of passage as the way to approach his progeny.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 18, 2020

The kind of movie you watch between your fingers as you hold your hands up to your face for protection.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Jan 26, 2020

Deftly explores the dynamic between father and son and its roots in masculine rage.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 3, 2019

The story, set in contemporary Russia, seems unexceptional at the start. Yet it plays out against a vast wilderness of shorelines and lakes, and turns tantalizing ambiguity into urgent mystery.

| Mar 27, 2013

The long and eventful fishing trip Dad drags the boys on is simultaneously a very real voyage through the Russian wilderness and also, like, a Jungian trip, man.

| Mar 27, 2013

Throughout his expertly controlled film, Zvyagintsev never allows a break in the clouds to provide some reassuring sign that the brothers are on solid footing.

| Original Score: B- | Mar 27, 2013

Mysterious, compelling, visually inventive, The Return is a quiet but intense metaphysical-drama of great emotional impact and insight.

| Mar 27, 2013

Beautifully structured and emotionally wrenching.

| Mar 27, 2013

Zvyagintsev gets formidable concentration from his youthful actors, and his storytelling moves with the simplicity -- calm, chiselled, and suggestive -- of a fable.

| Mar 27, 2013

Constructed like an eerie, metaphorical thriller, this tense, riveting character study offers viewers nearly two hours of emotions with a stunning pay-off no one will be expecting.

Full Review | Jun 4, 2009

Like each episode of Kieslowski's Decalogue, The Return is a small but potent story. It leads us to ask: Is it ever enough to just 'trust and obey'?

| Original Score: A | Sep 9, 2007

A harrowing, elusively biblical account… echoes of Abraham and Isaac, the Gospel parables about fathers and pairs of sons, and the Second Coming.

| Original Score: A- | Feb 11, 2006

Zvyagintsev's Venice prize-winner is a model of suspenseful storytelling. The acting, too, is terrific. Very highly recommended indeed.

| Feb 9, 2006

magnificent return of a great cinema tradition to the world stage

| Original Score: 7/10 | Oct 11, 2005

Si uno se queda sólo en la primera lectura del drama familiar, la experiencia puede ser bastante desconcertante.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 8, 2005

Um estudo de personagens cuja força se torna ainda maior em função das belas performances do trio principal.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 18, 2005

The Return feels like an experiment designed to find out how much basic plot information you can withhold from an audience and still have an interesting movie.

Full Review | Jan 4, 2005

... an unsentimental film about how childhood lingers until it abruptly ends.

Full Review | Original Score: 90/100 | Dec 26, 2004

an absorbing psychological drama and coming-of-age story in the guise of a road movie

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Dec 15, 2004

What begins as a simple road trip becomes a spiritual journey, the classic passage from boy to man.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 20, 2004