'Compartment No. 6' Review: Two Strangers Discover Their True Identities While Sharing A Train Ride To The Arctic Circle In Finnish Dire ...

Arlington TX

14 January, 2022

7:06 PM

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By Joe Friar, Fort Worth Report January 13, 2022 If you've ever been at a party where you felt completely out of place or in a relationship that wasn't reciprocal, you could be like college student Laura (Seidi Haarla), the protagonist in "Compartment No.6" who doesn't realize she's having an identity crisis. Nor does Ljoha (Yuriy Borisov) a crass blue-collar worker with a penchant for the bottle. The two become temporary roommates on a Russian train bound from Moscow to Murmansk in this railway version of "The Odd Couple" meets "Before Sunrise" from Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen. Loosely based on Rosa Liksom's 2010 novel, the second film by Juho Kuosmanen ("The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki") isn't your typical love story. There is only a smidgen of romance in the cold, bleak, blustery air but it's enough to make you want to root for Laura and Ljoha who aren't looking for love just the core human need to connect and not necessarily with one another. First impressions are a doozy here causing damage at the get-go. Laura is repulsed by Ljoha, a chain-smoking, hard-drinking Russian miner whose disheveled appearance (apart from the clean shaved head) and lack of etiquette is a turn-off for the intellectual college student whom he describes as the slang word for a woman's genitals after she appears standoffish and pretentious. Of course, Laura tries to switch cabins, but none are available, so she's stuck with Ljoha for the entire 923-mile trip that will take several days to complete. Both actors, Haarla who resembles a young Mary Kay Place, and Borisov, think Michael Shannon minus hair, are great together with real chemistry. Not the great couple kind but you can see the two becoming best friends (opposites attract!) once the false pretenses are dropped and the pair begin to discover who they really are in this journey of discovery. To read the full article, click here. Fort Worth Report is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that produces factual, in-depth journalism about city and county government, schools, healthcare, business, and arts and culture in Tarrant County. Always free to read; subscribe to newsletters, read coverage or support our newsroom at fortworthreport.org.