Last month I published a review of the “bullet train” here At the beginning I was sailing on my love for train movies, but in the end I came to the conclusion that the Hollywood action movie is not a real train movie, because the train was almost empty of casual passengers, and it lacked a sense of the space outside the train. “Cabin No. 6”, on the other hand, is a train movie through and through. Every detail in the rattling train is tangible and real, and from the physicality of the journey an emotional and human experience develops. This time it is a train traveling from Moscow to Murmonsk in the northwestern tip of Russia, a distance of 1,488 km from the capital city. On its way, it makes long stops at stations along the route, and thus the journey lasts for several days during which two strangers, sharing the same sleeping car, get to know each other .
The romantic pattern is reminiscent of Richard Linklater’s “Before Sunrise” and many other films. But the film by the Finnish director Joho Kosmanen, based on the book by the Finnish Rosa Lixum, is specific and unique enough to capture our hearts during the journey. The film also won the hearts of the jury at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, who split the Grand Prix (second prize) between it and Asghar Farhadi’s “Hero”.
“Only parts of us will ever touch only parts of others,” Marilyn Monroe is quoted by one of the characters in the opening scenes, and the film continues from there to demonstrate this beautiful and wistful phrase. Laura (Sadi Harle) is a Finnish student who came to Moscow to learn Russian. During her stay there she fell in love with Irina, an archeology student who rented her a room in her apartment. The two planned to travel together to Murmonsk to see prehistoric rock paintings (petroglyphs), but Irina canceled at the last minute and Ora decided to travel alone. All this happened before the start of the film, which finds Laura alone at a party the night before the trip. It seems that Irina is more important to her than she was to Irina. The year is 1998, when people still keep in touch via payphones.
In the sleeping compartment on the train, Laura finds herself stuck with a drunken and rude Russian guy, who assumes she is a prostitute and starts aggressively with her. She tries to change cabins, but the train is completely full and all the beds are occupied. To get away from the guy, she sits in the restaurant trailer and stays there until closing time. After such an opening, it is hard to imagine how Laura and Yuha (Yuri Borisov from “Captain Volkonogov Escaped”) will find any connection – or how parts of them will touch each other, as Monroe put it. And that is the beauty of the film, which gradually locates the warm and vulnerable humanity that hides beneath the Neanderthal facade of the guy and frozen Russia, without turning into a sentimental puddle.
A neglected aesthetic that comes with a twist. “cell number 6”
I will not detail the dramatic course of the film. I will only mention that Yuha goes to Murmonsk to work there in a mine, with the aim of earning money to start some kind of business. Whereas Laura arrived in Russia and boarded the train out of a romantic hope for adventure, so she stubbornly continues towards the final station even when the illusion crumbles in her hands. The landscapes and people are harsh and bleak, and her stubborn attempts to produce poetic memories on her video camera crash when the camera is stolen. Left with no choice, Ora returns to the basics – pencil and paper – and this connects nicely with the symbolism of the search for the petroglyphs as signs of early humanity.
The 29-year-old Borisov is one of the most prominent Russian actors of his generation (he has awards to prove it) and he designs a most wonderful role here. We know nothing of his personal history, but the flickering humanity peeking shyly beneath the macho gestures tells us a lot. Harla is also touching in the character of the quiet and lonely woman, and it’s nice to see how the two heroes become beautiful for each other. The neglected aesthetics of the film do not make the viewing experience any easier, but it is a journey that is well worth joining until its last stop.
4.5 stars. Compartment Number 6 Director: Yoho Kosmanen. With Sadie Harle, Yuri Borisov. Finland/Russia 2021, 107 min.