Director Vitaly Suslin's film Landscaping has won two awards in Vyborg, exploring life and human eccentricity in the Russian hinterland outside Moscow.
The auteur drama continues the cinematic tradition of writer Vasily Shukshin by raising the question of what is happening to society. Suslin sets the story in provincial Russia, a territory largely ignored by fairytale glamorous film productions.
Actor Sergei Stepanchenko plays Pyotr, a garbage collector who carries out his dirty labor with romantic faith and a sense of mission. Pyotr brings joy to residents in a provincial town by maintaining local surroundings and turning on a color-music fountain, which serves as a local landmark and source of pride. Meanwhile, a statue of Alexander Pushkin is brought to the town to remind citizens of spiritual values, leading one local woman with a spiritual past to remark that the figure looks alive.
Pyotr lives with his adult son, played by Ivan Vasilevsky, who remains absorbed in computer shooter games instead of marrying. A deep gulf separates the energetic romantic father from his pragmatic son, who constantly loses his wedding ring and struggles to decide where to fit into life.
Life in town N
The film contains almost no dialogue, reflecting a quiet setting where completing tasks or encountering another person feels like a rare miracle. Off-screen music features classical compositions by Jean-Philippe Rameau and George Frideric Handel, alongside the lively Tritsch-Tratsch polka.
Local men test their strength at a public punching bag attraction. Pyotr approaches the bag with an ironic smile at its futility, whereas his son strikes it with intense determination during his first moment of waking up.
Pyotr possesses hidden talents, occasionally dancing with unexpected grace or staging a bride kidnapping like a traditional warrior. Meanwhile, town residents seek out small moments of beauty in a landscape of forests, fields, and rivers. A young girl delights in watching the fountain dance, while an older girl wears a feather fan found at the dump to feel like a Pushkin countess.
Evolution of Suslin's films
Suslin's storytelling has evolved across his filmography. In Head. Two Ears, a country man named Ivan is scammed in the city but recognizes the falsehood around him, while Camel Arc portrays a dreaming cobbler. In Seventh Run Along the Contour of the Globe, an unemployed artist becomes a security guard, and in Rapana, a provincial actor turns to driving a taxi.
In Landscaping, the characters abandon the search for meaning entirely, viewing movement as useless in a surreal environment where time feels stuck in a swamp. Only the bronze statue of Pushkin retains an energetic presence, standing as a figure residents can approach to place a hand on his shoulder and ask what is happening to their lives.
