Abel Ferrara reteams with Willem Dafoe for a dreamlike drama that sees one man going on a spiritual quest to find himself.
With the films of Abel Ferrara, you’re always going to get something quite singular, strange and often provocative. For his latest, he seeks to explore a language of dreams through the story of a lonely barman in Siberia, looking to reflect on his existence. What follows is a series of bizarre sequences, as Willem Dafoe’s Clint connects with the memories of those that he has known throughout his life, in order to examine just what kind of man he has been. Well, that’s how I read it anyway. Siberia is a film where it becomes very clear, very quickly, that this is an abstract experience where it is very hard to tell what’s going at any moment what so ever.
It’s a strange feeling when you are watching a film that proves to be pretty impenetrable to you as a viewer at every turn, as it goes about delivering imagery and dialogue that deliberately obscures time and space. You question what you’re doing and whether you should keep going, as you slowly lose hope that it’s going to become any easier to get through. Undoubtedly, this is very much a question of individual taste. I do not doubt that there will be many fans of Ferrara’s work here, as he crafts an experience that defies a lot of reasoning and explanation. But for this writer, it proved to be something of an ordeal, one that felt as though it was operating at a distance at all times, crafting an alienating atmosphere that feels far too self indulgent to embrace.
Dafoe is of course a fine actor, and his commitment and lack of ego as a performer is a strength here and anywhere. You cannot deny the level of commitment he brings to throwing himself into whatever his director asks of him, amidst the chilly snowy landscapes, shadowy caves and run down structures. But the diversions the storytelling takes leaves you way out in the cold. The whole film is a series of surreal scenes that often are more off putting than they are intriguing and thought provoking. It becomes a bit of a slog to sit through, as you become increasingly aware that there’s not going to be much of a way in.
While there are a couple of moments of bizarre humour that prove to be rather welcome, Siberia unfortunately comes across as a pretentious piece of work that crafts an untethered experience that gets lost in its own snowdrift. It’s an often baffling and uninviting place to be, that despite only being 90 minutes long, proves to be a patience testing ordeal. Fans of Ferrara’s work may well find something to admire here, but those less familiar will unlikely be so forgiving. A difficult, testing often ponderously dull film, and one that proves to be very hard to recommend.
Siberia
Summary
Siberia is a film where it becomes very clear, very quickly, that this is an abstract experience where it is very hard to tell what’s going at any moment what so ever.
