Reviews

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  ★★★★½ review by Still Here🏳️‍🌈 on Letterboxd

  My lord, it was all existing footage! Pretty much perfect editing as if Loznitsa was really there with his camera; documentary becomes cinematic fiction, cinematic fiction becomes the truth. Groups are observed in their moment, unfortunately we know better even if we are, within this film, placed very physically to the present. Still there is something in the camera that is above simple cinematic storytelling or newsreels/documenting; perhaps it is the editing that gives this film its spirit, it becomes cinema through this magical measure of crafting. Cinema truly is sculpting time and it is ultimately about very few and subtle things, realizations, that make cinema. In this sense this is really minimalism; even if there is power in the images, the formal truth what makes it art and cinema especially, lies in somewhere else. Cinema is never simply just beautiful images or a story, it must be something else and this is what we need in today's film scene; realizations.

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  ★★★★½ review by Artem on Letterboxd

  The future belongs to crowds

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  ★★★½ review by Michael Sicinski on Letterboxd

  [7]

  My capsule review for Cinema Scope's TIFF coverage:

  Following Maidan, last year’s impeccable the-revolution-is-live bulletin from Ukraine, Sergei Loznitsa returns to the found-footage format with which he first came to international prominence. The Event is in many respects a logical follow-up to Maidan, and attentive viewers will detect certain formal and ideological echoes. Centred on the military coup that represented the death rattle of the USSR, The Event is composed of footage from independent documentarians in the heart of what was Leningrad. As is Loznitsa’s method, we are witnessing seismic history from the street, and as with Maidan this means several things. First, we are thrust into the middle of the crowd, buffeted hither and thither, and this often makes it difficult to get our bearings. This is entirely intentional, and goes hand in hand with the second element of The Event: we are witnessing confusion in action. “Is Gorbachev dead?” “Why is the TV only showing the Bolshoi Ballet?” “We have to seal the records,” etc. The situation is one of constant change, even as the Soviet coup leaders try in vain to establish normalcy. Granted, we know how the story ends. But Loznitsa’s editing and choice of material—passages separated by black leader and the main theme from Swan Lake—depicts both the chaos and the raw power of mass demonstration, people gathering in the street to demand their rights. Of course, The Event is also a prelude to a tragedy, since we all know (and Loznitsa knows we know) that the bold experiment in Russian democracy ends with oligarchs and Gazprom and Old You-Know-Who. But given that The Event is constructed as honest, humble heroism without a trace of irony, clearly Loznitsa is implying that it’s time to hit the streets again.

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  ★★★½ review by supostatka on Letterboxd

  it is so so so strange to look at those streets which are my own streets i have known since childhood and know the Event depicted only took place 4 years before i was born. the USSR seems like such a distant past because i have never known it personally, but really it was not such a long time ago. its silly, but i kept looking at the countless people in the frames, looking for my mums face - she turned 23 on that day (same age as i am now!!) and she was in the city at the time.

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  ★★★½ review by Zheddy on Letterboxd

  This film made me feel like I like a time traveller. I didn't really gain any insight to the context of the events in Leningrad, August 1991, I was just a witness.

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