This is probably the only film we'll encounter about the Merja culture of West Central Russia, a Finno-Ugric tribe in which even the most modernized people pay allegiance to ancient customs. Here, a man whose young wife has died asks his best friend to accompany him on a ritualized highway trip, which includes bringing the naked body of his deceased spouse in the car so she can be burned on a beach, her ashes floated on the water. Aleksei Fedorchenko's wistful film has echoes of Parajanov magic realism combined with a Chekhovian melancholy. It's poetic in the most muted way, a chamber road movie.
