Directed by Olia Yenko and written by Benedict Flynn, during the war in Ukraine, Daryna, an elderly woman displaced from her home, is living with her daughter when she meets Taras, a solitary widower, at a rural bus stop. After he finds her lost luggage tag, a quiet connection begins through phone calls and shared routines, offering both of them a fragile sense of closeness and home. Starring: Igor Fendrikov and Anhelina Fendrikova.
It’s not an easy thing to create a film that is both a reminder of an ongoing conflict impacting countless lives, and a touching romance but Olia Yenko and Benedict Flynn do just that with Still Life. The writing is sad yet sweet, it’s cloudy yet hopeful, and the choice to not use dialogue was a clever one. It gives the film a great flow, and allows the filmmakers to instead adjust the atmosphere, tone and colour to translate to the audience the evolution of the characters’ budding connection.
The style which Yenko creates is endearingly honest, genuine and earnest. The cinematography from Lora Arkhypenko very strongly keeps Still Life within that everyday realm. Something which is reflected by Yenko’s choices of camera movement, and the editing from Andrii Kireev. It holds a patience and stillness to it which is compelling, and all of those elements do a great job of layering the atmosphere. Communicating the many different emotional issues at play in Still Life in a superbly subtle manner.
Another element which really helps to keep the smooth flow and portray the changing atmosphere is the score from Alonso Del Carpio. The use of the acoustic guitar in particular has a nostalgic feel. Of course, adding in a little bit of crooning never hurts either, really tapping into that old-school romance feel.
The performances from Igor Fendrikov and Anhelina Fendrikova are nicely understated. They manage to communicate a lot about their characters, even without the use of dialogue. Fendrikov’s Taras has a stoic feel but at the same time there’s something very gentle about him which is immediately charming. Whereas Fendrikova’s Daryna feels traditionally bubbly and friendly, there’s a quality to her that’s your quintessential Grandmother, welcoming and warm. The two of them create a touching connection and do well to portray how making a connection like that can help get you through hard times.
Still Life is sweet, touching, layered and subtle. You can sense how Olia Yenko put a keen focus on considering the audience’s perspective, in order to tell this story in a less traditional manner. To understand how people will view it, and how to translate the emotions and feelings without using dialogue, and it works very well. Yenko creates an engagingly humble style, it’s understated, authentic, moving and does a wonderful job of portraying how those meaningful connections can make going through difficult times a little easier. As well as being another reminder of the resilience of the Ukrainian people.
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