Beyond the Ocean

Rank

Bottom 20% of all time (see others with this rank)

Festival Year

2000 (click here to see all competition films from this year)

Category

Dramatic Competition

Cast

Dasha Volga, Richard Nagel, Tatiana Kamina, Sage, Tatiana Kuznetsova

Non-Cast Credits

Tony Pemberton, Ursula Wolschlager, Isen Robbins, Anelxis Brunner, Philip Robertson, Ted Sappington, Svetlana Guralskaya, Martin Lang, Chelsea Marushkin, Christian Fennesz

Description

Seldom does a film come around with the striking originality and craftsmanship of Tony Pemberton's Beyond the Ocean. By contracting different themes and images, he has created a piece of cinematic poetry that gently stirs and furiously shakes the still waters of our souls.

The film's storyteller is a young, pregnant Russian woman, Pitsee (Tatiana Kamina), who has just arrived in New York to begin a new life with her boyfriend, who lives in the states and is the father of her unborn child. Immediately displaced and rejected, she begins to unearth a wealth of stories and unresolved issues from her Russian past.

The American scenes are shot in rich, colorful Cinemascope, and the Russian ones in striking black and white. Pemberton masterfully weaves together what are actually two films about completely different worlds into a brilliant fusion which accurately depicts the radically intricate psychology of a woman on a journey through an arduous and passionate life.

Beyond the Ocean makes exceptional use of music and features very perceptive performances. Kamina injects her character with the refreshing vitality essential for such an abstruse and fractured character. Pemberton lyrically intercuts flashbacks with current happenings to create a psychological space that defines the borders of self-liberation and self-deception. A dynamic and artistic film, Beyond the Ocean resonates with imagination and talent.

Reviewer

Trevor Groth (see other films reviewed by the same reviewer)

Film Takes Pace.