Trained to be an assassin alongside other children, an 11-year-old boy, Alexander, begins to question Gregori's overpowering influence on the children and their training to become assassins. Threatened by his increasing unwillingness to fall in line, Gregori's behavior turns erratic and adversarial toward the child he once considered a son. With the two set dangerously at odds and the commune's way of life disintegrating, the residents fear a violent resolution is at hand in this Sundance award-winning thriller.
Jeremy Chabriel is arresting as the increasingly uneasy youngster, and director and co-writer Ariel Kleiman proves adept at both world-building and attention-focusing.
The storytelling is possibly a little too wilfully obscure, but whenever the protagonists leave the commune's walled-in compound, the desolate urban landscape outside - shot in the former Soviet republic of Georgia - makes a powerful impression.
Newcomer Jeremy Chabriel commands as 11-year-old Alexander, a chosen son whose dawning sense of right and wrong challenges the social order. An auspicious beginning, for him and Kleiman.
Kleiman seems less interested in explaining the whys of his scenario than in observing his characters and their interactions -- a strategy that pays off thanks to excellent lead turns.
A moody drama that employs a dystopian-type premise that is not too far afield from a typical young-adult book series although with loftier aspirations and a less propulsive pace.
Usually, partisans stand for something, but in this movie, which is stripped of a specific time frame and relevant geopolitical context, the term becomes hollow.
With his feature debut, young Australian filmmaker Ariel Kleiman tells a creepy story about a cult-like commune, anchored by a riveting performance from French actor Vincent Cassel.
