Roads to Koktebel (2003)

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Directed by Boris Khlebnikov, Alexei Popogrebsky.

Starring Igor Chernevich, Alexandr Ilyin, Agrippina Steklova, Gleb Puskepalis, Vladimir Kucherenko.

The Russian writing/directing team of Boris Khlebnikov and Alexei Popogrebsky makes their feature debut with the road movie Koktebel. Starting in Moscow, a widowed alcoholic father (Igor Chernevich) and his 11-year-old son (Gleb Puskepalis) set out on foot headed for the Crimean town of Koktebel. Along the way, they meet up with grumpy recluse Mikhael (Vladimir Kucherenko), who ends up shooting the father during a drunken brawl. Luckily, local doctor Xenia (Agrippina Steklova) fixes him up, leading to a romance. The father stays with her, while the son finishes the journey by himself. Koktebel was shown at the 2003 Karlovy Vary Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

Snore...
by vhsparrow in vhsparrow Blog

lost interest.

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"I really disliked this movie. Granted, my expectations and reasons for requesting it were slightly inconsistent with the average review – I was interested in the Black Sea landscape – I knew that 'Roads to Koktebel' was a road movie, but even at that, it failed to hold my interest.As a fan of road movies, from 'Harold and Maude' on down to Wim Wenders' 'Kings of the Road' it is my experience that this genre lives and dies on the strength of their experiences if not the subjects of their conversations. Sadly, with a middle-aged man and an 11 year-old child, neither their wits are matched, nor is either character sufficiently self-absorbed to make the film entirely self-sustaining.Good road movies perform functions that were explored by the Lettrists and Guy Debord's <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/Situationist_Interna tional">Situationists& lt;/a></i>. The best road movies where the protagonists ar ... " [More]

Spout Mavens Disc #5: Коктебель ...
by rik_tod in The Cinema 4 Pylon: SpOutpost

is neutral about it.

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"Writing about this disc would have proven to be a far simpler journey, had all of the Roads to Koktebel, trod upon by a homeless father and son on a sojourn through the lonely expanses of Russia, not crossed against my own personal Jetstream to Orlando and Roads to Anaheim Via Similarly Barren and Somewhat Dull Routes Through Idaho, Oregon, Nevada and California. You see, this disc arrived just as I was returning from my first vacation at Walt Disney World and its various and sundry neighboring parks, from which I slunk back to my abode with a rather sullen attitude at the prospect of returning to a life where I actually had to work to earn my keep, as opposed to lounging about a cabin in the woods, through which I strode happily every morning, and then spending each day riding rollercoasters and each night eating at 4-star restaurants.This despondency was displaced swiftly, as I drifted unluckily into a week-long bout of the flu, which left me able to watch movies, but unable to r ... " [More]

Slow Road to Crimea
by HairyLime in HairyLime Blog

is neutral about it.

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"Starting to notice a trend in the four movies I've received as part of the 'Spout Maven's' group. Each of the movies has involved a young boy, set adrift, abandoned, neglected by adult foibles and shortcomings beyond his power to either influence or comprehend. In "Clean" it was drugs and show business, in "The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things" it was a whole myriad of child neglect nightmare scenarios, in "Mother Mine" it was WWII and the foster parent program, and, now in "Roads to Koktebel" we have alcoholism and abject poverty. This movie is what you would call 'deliberately paced', which is an art film term for slow moving. This film was so slow in fact, that I was convinced at one point that it was moving backwards. We are introduced to a father and son travelling with little or no means of support from the big city of Moscow to a new life at a sister's house by the Black Sea. The father and son seem rathe ... " [More]

The Path Often Traveled
by Tenenbaums in Tenenbaums Blog

is neutral about it.

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"Roads to Koktebel plays like the sequel to The Bicycle Thief transplanted in Russia. The once entirely trusting son has now come to regard his father as an incompetent loser yet sticks with him because he knows no other way. A few more years under him, the boy is old enough to know most of what’s going on and he can communicate with the father on a more adult level. Often, that maturity means insulting the father in ways that a younger boy could not. Then when the boy has taken all of his father’s failures and broken promises that he can handle, he assumes the adult role and strikes out on his own. The only problem is that, just like any young boy who "runs away from home," he still behaves like a child, as seen most vividly in the scene where he grills the philanthropic truck driver about the sea’s whereabouts. In a more conventional, though also more entertaining, father-son road movie like Road To Perdition, the lifelong distanced son grows closer to hi ... " [More]

Roads to Koktebel
by csprague in Spout Mavens

hasn't rated it.

"Roads to Koktebel After his wife's death and the loss of his job, an aerodynamics engineer sets off from Moscow with his 11 year old son for his sister's house in Koktebel by the Black Sea. With no money or means of transport, they drift through the expansive and mesmeric landscapes of Russia at the mercy of chance. The father is content to meander as he tries to rebuild his self-respect, piece together his broken life and win back the trust of his son. Meanwhile, the boy impatiently dreams of reaching the mythic coastal resort to start a new life of emancipation and gliders flying in the wind. When the father meets and falls for a beautiful young doctor, the boy sees her as an intrusion on the only loving relationship in his life sets off to complete the journey by himself… ~www.filmmovement.com " [More]

Tags: failure , hope , humanity , romance , son
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