BRAGUINO no stars

Not quite long enough to be a feature and perhaps too long to be a 'short', Clement Cogitore's film "Braguino" is more an ethnographic essay than a documentary. He filmed it in the wilderness of Eastern Siberia and it looks at the lives of two families living on opposite banks of a river but who don't get along. In the centre of the river is a small island where the families' children come and play, too young perhaps to understand the concept of 'feuds'. There is no narration; Cogitore lets his characters speak for themselves. It's a rare glimpse into a way of life that might have existed a few hundred years ago but which seems almost alien today. It only lasts 49 minutes but since almost nothing actually happens, (a bear is killed; the families square up to each other in a scene you think might develop into something but doesn't), these could be the longest 49 minutes of your life.