The Honored Priest: Confession of a Samurai (2015)
An Orthodox priest, Father Nikolay, the brother of a Yakuza boss, is drawn into in a mob war in Japan. He escapes to the small Russian village of Glubokoe, where he finds that war has found him again.
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So much average
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Most interesting thing, during shooting, Tagawa became Orthodox Christian. He is baptized in Russian Orthodox Church.
The movie is done to the point. It has quite a few impressive details and connotations, which probably will go unnoticed to the regular viewer at first sight. Like a flash of lightning behind Nelyubin. Or Nikolay's refusal to fight off the two policemen. Or the hunter's inability to shoot the bear. Or the glance in the water. Or the ending scene fading into white. It can be quite a considerable list of such happenings. No surprise, though, while a real Orthodox priest takes part in this one.A very good example of Russian cinema. Still, one complaint from my side: the music (especially at the very end) should have been different. But this is my taste - would prefer mild choir music in this instance or even just the sounds of nature (birds singing for example). Grebenshchikov's score was great in the famous and groovy "Black Rose...", but not here. Here it sounds cheap, sorry.Thank you for attention. A 9 out of 10.