BREAK
Directed by: Tigran Sahakyan
Starring: Irina Antonenko, Anastasiya Grachyova, Denis Kosyakov, Andrey Nazimov
New Years Eve - five young friends, Roma, Katya, Kirill, Den and Vika are planning on celebrating on a mountain top at the Overlook ski resort. The gang have to bribe the caretaker to allow them to cross iin the gondola after hours, but just as they make the mid-way point, disaster strikes and they find themselves stranded during the holiday period. Will they survive the elements….and each other?
The premise for this film sounds a hell of a lot like that for Adam Green's FROZEN from 2010, except BREAK ups the ante in every department (except for wolves).
The very first shot establishes the tone as the camera slowly sweeps over the panoramic view of desolate, foreboding mountains. One of the characters comments how beautiful it looks….yeah, from a distance maybe…
The plot then delves into the relationships of the group and we can already see the cracks appearing. Roma has an unrequited crush on one of the girls, and Katya was on the verge of breaking up with Kirill AND is currently secretly pregnant AND looking to get an abortion after the holidays AND no one say anything to Kirill about it, okay?
Just as the gang are about to board the gondola (having argued with and bribed the caretaker), Kirill decides not to join the others as he's lost his backpack. It turns out that he was planning to make a Grand Gesture straight out of rom-com 101, but couldn't pull it off without the props in his bag. As it turns out, his bag was on the gondola after all…
The trip to the other mountain is momentous. This isn't a short 5 minute hop, it takes a long time to get across to the other side. Not that the gang ever get there, as the gondola breaks down, twice. At first its just a hindrance but soon they realise that they are in a serious situation. We the audience know more than they do, that no one knows they are up there and that no one is coming to fix the pulley system for days.
As the group's desperation grows, they start turning on each other, driven by fear and hunger. Meanwhile, Kirill wakes in his hotel room and despondently heads for the airport…
Whereas FROZEN (2010) only had a chairlift for its characters to literally hang out in, BREAK has a whole gondola to play with, and it proves to be a very versatile and dynamic location to set most of the film. There are hidden compartments containing equipment to discover, trapdoors both in the ceiling and the floor to clamber around in their attempts to improve their situation. Tempers start to flare when one person disagrees with a particular plan of action and actively tries to obstruct it, much to the annoyance and frustration of the others. We also find that certain people cannot be relied upon during a crisis.
It is genuinely impressive just how much mileage the film-makers manage to get out of one location, with the interior proving just as perilous as the exterior at times. There are a number of moments which will have you wincing in agony - especially when one person gets her hand stuck to frozen metal. Nasty!
THE VERDICT
Break is a very inventive teen survival thriller which milks every aspect out of its (mostly) single location. The set-up is well handled, the panic and danger within the gondola palpable and the various set-pieces very thrilling.