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The Execution review Danielle O’Neill

Fright Fest at Glasgow Film Festival 2022

The Execution – Director Lado Kvataniya. Cast Nikoloz Tavadze, Evgeniy Tkachuk, Daniil Spivakovsky

The opening scene where we are introduced to two characters, a battered woman and a mysterious cloaked figure sets the tone for the movie. It is bleak, dark, violent and throughout there is a sense of foreboding that you cannot shake. Our main character Issa is your stereotypical detective, he wears the suits, has scars, a murky past, drinks whiskey from a flask, the whole nine yards. However, what sets him apart is the violence and the corruption he has hidden fairly well within him, he will stop at nothing to get the outcome he desires, even if that outcome isn’t exactly true but supports his narrative. Throughout the story as his character is developed you are unsure whether to route for him or not which keeps his character very interesting and the viewer second guessing.

Unfortunately, with this movie I was confused with a lot of things, particularly the setting and time period. It repetitivelyjumps about to different time periods, and more often than not when we entered a new time period (with a text on screen indicator) I would have to pause and gather my thoughts trying to place what was happening with regards to the story, there were a few times the time period changed to say 1988, despite my thinking that was already the year I was previously in which was frustrating. It came across as messy and wasvery immersion breaking. The movie is rather long, just over two hours and I feel that it could have been edited down, there were a few scenes I felt didn’t add to the story as a whole and could have been taken out. 

Overall, the beginning was a little slow to get into however it can be forgiven as there was a lot of characters and setting to explain, the middle came across rather jumbled and confusing, it seemed to drag on for longer than necessary, however the ending I thoroughly enjoyed. Everything we had learned had been building up to the twists and turns of the tumultuous ending, with characters fates decided, and the intertwined stories tied up with a nice little bow it left the viewer feeling satisfied and reflecting on the poetic ending that stayed with you long after the movie had ended.

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