How I Ended This Summer (Russia)
Old and new films that have impressed recently: “The King’s Speech,” “The Fighter,” the Coen brothers‘ “True Grit” (before you race to proclaim this a “re-imagining,” check out the 3rd Act — it’s almost shot-for-shot from Henry Hathaway), the poorly distributed “Case 39” (as unnerving in its way as last year’s “Orphan”), Russia’s Arctic-set “How I Ended This Summer” (mesmerizing), “Buried” (outdoes even Hitchcock’s “Lifeboat” as an exercise in tight-quarters shooting), and, from the Way Way Back Machine, William Wellman‘s “Good-bye, My Lady” (1956), with Walter Brennan and Brandon de Wilde. The latter ranks with “The Yearling” as a heartbreaking yet rigorously unsentimental kid-and-and-his-pet saga.
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