Two men come into a small town diner looking for a third man that they have been hired to kill. Directors Marika Beiku, Aleksandr Gordon, and Andrei Tarkovsky do a masterful job of creating a bleak and haunting fatalistic atmosphere, build plenty of tension (the scene in which the counterman waits on a whistling customer while the two killers watch him the whole time is incredibly nerve-wracking), and maintain a tough gritty tone throughout, with especially startling casual use of the n-word. The fine acting by the able cast keeps things humming: Valentin Vinogradov and Vadim Novikiv are appropriately cold and menacing as the two killers, Gordon excels as pragmatic "bright boy" counterman George, Vasily Shaksin brings a chilling resignation to his role as the doomed Ole Andreson, and Yuliy Fayt does well as Ole's loyal friend Nick Adams. The lack of music gives this one a potent sense of stark realism. Gorgeously shot in crisp black and white by Alfredo Alvarez and Aleksandr Rybin, it's well worth a look.

This is a Soviet black-and-white movie from almost 60 years ago. It is based on an Ernest Hemingway short story and actually he was still alive at that point. This was the very first filmmaking effort by BAFTA-winning director Tarkovsky and he wrote and directed it in his 20s together with Aleksandr Gordon. The best thing about it is maybe how atmospheric it was. I have to say I struggled a bit with the Swede's decision and I'm not sure that's somewhat realistic. Apart from that, I had some problem keeping the characters apart, but that may only be because I have never seen anybody from the cast in anything else I think. That's not surprising though as most people involved (including Tarkovsky who has a little cameo) worked at least as much behind the camera as in front of it. So all in all it's a decent watch for people who like mafia films or movies on contract killers and to them I recommend it certainly.

This short film was a student project for a Soviet state film school, and I don't know how much exposure it would have had at the time it was made. It survives for viewing because one of the three students directors was a young Andrei Tarkovsky, and though his resources were constrained, the strength of the work is made evident through how much is done with a very basic production. The door out of the restaurant seems to lead to a blank wall, but we nonetheless get the lonely atmosphere of a small-town American diner; the filmmakers really seem to have drank in the feel of the Hemingway they read for this adaptation. It's really a twenty-minute atmosphere piece, and it does that very well - the two murderers create a complete and stark sense of threat and menace. In a constrained setting they made a claustrophobic and memorable film, with a real film-noir feel where we weren't necessarily expecting to find it. High marks!

Although I did like the 1946 adaptation of the Killers, I wasn't sure how a Russian, let alone someone who is usually much more into the visual prowess of things like Andrei Tarkovsky, would tackle Ernest Hemingway's brief, pulpy story of men on a mission and a man in hiding from those men. Turns out it's one of the best short films I've seen from a soon-to-be world renown European auteur, because of it's emphasis on the simplicity of suspense, of human action in desperate circumstances and how it's filmed with a mix of the noir style and with Tarkovsky's dependence on figures in curiously exciting compositions. He isn't alone on the film, however, as the middle scene at the apartment was directed by friend Alexander Gordon, with Tarkovsky directing the bigger chunks at the diner, and another guy Marika Beiku co-directing overall. Since the apartment scene is so short though, and accounts for just three shots, one being most elaborate as it goes in and out, tight and wide, on the morose Swede in hiding and his friend at the diner filling him in on what happened, it's mostly Tarkovsky's game here.Part of the skill, and curiosity, in how tense the long first scene at the diner is that music is completely absent, with the only tone coming from Tarkovsky himself as a whistling customer. Meanwhile, Tarkovsky uses Hemingway's dialog in a very realistic manner, even when he goes deliberate angles, like when George goes into the back with the sandwiches and we see his feet in the same tilted frame as an empty can on the floor, or with the usage of the mirror on the wall. There's also the suddenness of seeing a machine gun that strikes things up in the room, and just the general attitude of Al and Max, the hit men, as they keep calling George "bright boy" in a way that reminds me of the curious double-talk in a self-consciously bad-ass movie like Pulp Fiction (not to mention the near casual usage of the 'N' bomb). While it ends sort of on a screeching halt, the sense of ambiguity as to the fate of the Swede as well as everyone else in the diner who hid the secret is worthwhile for the material, as it's perfectly anti-climactic. It's not entirely a simple experiment, as it's too polished for that, but I couldn't see how it could be made any longer either. It's perfectly paced and acted nearly as well, and it's a fitting pre-cursor to the un-prolific but remarkable career of one of Russia's most important filmmakers.