Review of The Tribe (2014) by Richard D — 06 Jun 2016

Great premise, poor execution.

This movie was not for me. But I should have known before I started watching. Bleak is not my thing and this is a Ukranian film. Still, the premise was great: it's a movie with no dialogue, no subtitles, and no music. All the actors speak in sign language (I'm not clear what dialect: European, American, etc). Some great long shots, but the pacing on this was excruciatingly long. A good deal of the shots include us watching characters walk and walk some more, get dressed or undressed (not in the sexy way) or fill out paperwork (I'm not kidding). The movie also didn't make me care about any of the characters--no background, no motivation. It wasn't clear whether our main character actually has mental deficiencies or if he's just shy, though perhaps the point is that it doesn't matter. This would have been great as a first foray for young filmmakers, but this doesn't meet the storytelling standards a movie should live up to.