Popular reviews

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  Review by Two Cineasts ★★★½

  Film reviews in 22 sentences (or less)
  Today: There Will Be No Leave Today

  „Yes, bro, seems like there will be no leave today.”
  (Leonid Kuravlyov as Morozov)

  Hi everybody, one of Russia's most important filmmakers and soon-to-be well known director Andrei Tarkovsky stages in his second more impressive student film, a scenario with which many people can relate. Even today there are reports of long covered Second World War bombs discovered at maintenance works or so and just a few weeks back we we're for the first time in such a situation when a bomb was found only 600 meters from our houses away. There Will Be No Leave Today is about a group of soldiers who have to…

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  Review by 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕞 (𝕃𝕖𝕠) 𝕧𝕒𝕟 𝕕𝕖𝕣 ℤ𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕟 ★★½ 5

  Added to: Andrei Tarkovsky Ranked

  Believe it or not, there's actually a (relatively) bad Tarkovsky film out there. His second student effort, made with his friend Aleksandr Gordon, was a test made by the State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) to let the two show not how to make a masterpiece but how to make an easily consumable work featuring basic cinematic techniques.

  So this basically turned out as some sort of government funded film about the removal of old WWII bombs. It feels more like a documentary since there is hardly any plot and we just see the military take care of this problem. Is it a dangerous job? Yes, sure. Does this film teach us anything? Except for the…

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  Review by Darren Carver-Balsiger ★★★★

  Andrei Tarkovsky's second student film, There Will Be No Leave Today is a competent and suspenseful film that succeeds in its simplicity. The story concerns a group of soldiers taking care of some unexploded bombs discovered in a village. It's plot focused and propagandistic so it's not exactly the style that Tarkovsky would eventually adopt, but it has all sorts of wonderful shot compositions and a nice sense of scale. There Will Be No Leave Today is a tense and engaging watch; an impressive student film.

  Andrei Tarkovsky Ranked
  My Top Films of the 1950s

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  Review by Sally Jane Black

  What this put me in mind of most was The Wages of Fear. While not quite as suspenseful as that, it certainly makes the most of its premise, milking every possible moment, but not overdoing it. At the same time, it has the feel of an educational video for some reason--possibly the way the title is displayed and the way it's sort of straight forward. It's hard to shake the feeling that this should have a cheezy, warm narrator warning me against drugs or jaywalking. Part of that is the small town setting and atmosphere and the lack of very much characterization. It's more plot than anything else, and still, it works out well enough as you watch the soldiers deal with the bombs.

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  Review by Giorgos Karkaletsis ★★½

  There Will Be No Leave Today is the second student film of Tarkovsky. He co-directed it again with Aleksandr Gordon. Although the script has some flaws, it achieved to pass to me a bit of anxiety. And that's a positive point. I think I slightely prefer his first student film. This is theoretically his first feature film because it is over 40 minutes, but it's still short.

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  Review by Luiz Rafael ★★★

  PT.

  MARATONA ANDREI TARKOVSKY 6/13

  Um filme curto do diretor, que nem é tão curto, 46 minutos. Se trata de uma cidade que descobre ter mísseis da Segunda Guerra Mundial enterradas em uma de suas ruas, e eles tem uma difícil missão de retirar essas bombas sem que essa explodam, e essa é a trama do filme.
  Lembro que a um tempo atrás teve caso parecidos com o que ocorre no filme, bombas encontradas na Alemanha, Itália e em Praga, e muitas ainda serão encontradas nesses países que estiveram envolvidas em guerras.

  ENG.
  MARATHON ANDREI TARKOVSKY 6/13

  A short film by the director, which is not even that short, 46 minutes. It's about a city that discovers that World War…

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  Review by ribcage ★★½

  Tarkovsky does propaganda!

  Ok, so technically, yes he does, but this short film about a group of soldiers working to remove a stash of old German missiles discovered buried under the road doesn't really hammer any ideology over your head--beyond saying soldiers do life-threatening work to help even small towns.

  The short is quite straight-forward, focusing on the soldiers' efforts and their fears of exploding. There's a few tense moments, a few fun ones, and the cast of soldiers have good camaraderie, feeling like a unit that has been together for some time.

  A bigger budget and more skill means No Leave Today is a better, prettier film than Tarkovsky's previous student film The Killers. Tarkovsky plays more with his…

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  Review by SantanaYork ★★★

  Ya habiendo terminado de ver los 3 cortometrajes de Tarkovsky, puedo dar mi veredicto final:

  En The Killers podemos apreciar cómo se le da más importancia a la narrativa e interacciones de los personajes en sus diálogos teniendo muchas flaquezas en sus otros aspectos técnicos, en There Will Be No Leave Today se ve un avance muy notorio: ya se da importancia a la puesta en escena, edición y ritmo a la historia que está contando. Y ya en The Streamroller and the Violin podemos ver lo que sería Tarkovsky a lo largo de toda su obra. Teniendo este último cortometraje la historia más sencilla y menos ambiciosa de las 3, es increíble que sea la mejor contada por lo…

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  Review by Loaft King ★★★

  Hitchcock meets Chernobyl.

  Apparently the VGIK wanted Andrei and Aleksandr Gordon to make an easy to consume movie, and it shows. It's just hilarious in hindsight considering the types of films Tarkovsky would follow up with. But as a student film it's quite remarkable and was clearly backed by a lot of money.

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  Review by Marquis ★★½

  There nothing to really say about this film as it's just average. There's nothing too great or even good about it, but there's nothing bad about it either. Luckily Tarkovskys next film had great reviews though.

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  Review by Simon Ramshaw ★★★½

  Tarkovsky directed a slick, psychology-free suspense procedural? Who knew? Seriously reminded me of Chernobyl, especially through the small glimpses into the lives of the characters within the tight constraints of a ticking clock narrative. They have lives outside of this story, but the story is all we see. The man was a massive talent from the get-go, I miss him more every day.

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  Review by Laurence Barber ★★★½

  It’s strange when propaganda films are this good, but then the propaganda isn’t much at the forefront. It’s basically the story of a group of soldiers who have to remove thirty tons of stockpiled bombs unearthed near a school by civil works. Intended to be commercial enough for television, Tarkovsky and co-director Aleksandr Gordon prove masters of suspense. Your stomachs swoop with each slight shudder near a bomb.