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‘Windless’ Review: A Powerfully Evocative Portrait of a Reluctant but Redemptive Homecoming
Bulgarian rapper Fyre is riveting in Pavel G. Vesnakov's immaculately shot "Windless," the moving story of a young man's return to his hometown.
In his second feature after 2020’s well-received “German Lessons,” Vesnakov, abetted by some extraordinary shotmaking from DP Orlin Ruevski, has hit on a stylistic approach of such burningly poetic intensity that later scenes of a nighttime bonfire feel like inevitable catharsis — the pent-up energy of so much dense, exquisite, square-framed portraiture finally bursting into flame. “Windless” does not deal in forgiveness, but it is about the beginnings of a tentative reconciliation between Kaloyan and the village he fled, the memories he suppressed and the father he “loathed.” Perhaps seeing his dad as the product of a tough-love generation who denied their offspring affection for fear of making them soft has helped. Perhaps it’s remembering overhearing his father’s heartbreakingly hard-headed advice to a friend: “Kiss your child only when they’re sleeping.” Or maybe it’s simply being back here, as ribbons of red-and-white hazard tape are stretched across the plundered cemetery and old lace curtains cast frilly patterns across Kaloyan’s tattooed face.
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