Zoology | Film review - Very odd Russian art-house fable

Zoology Natalya Pavlenkova Natasha — (Image credit: Arrow)

A trick of the tail.

A mousy middle-aged clerical worker at a zoo, Natasha (Natalya Pavlenkova) is cruelly picked on by her boorish colleagues. More misery comes her way when she mysteriously grows a tail. The medical authorities react with bureaucratic indifference, but romance unexpectedly beckons when a handsome young radiologist takes an interest in her.

Acted with straight-faced aplomb, Russian director Ivan Tverdovsky's odd art-house fable Zoology is rather slow moving and grey. But it will leave you thinking, and possibly squirming with discomfort, as well.

Article continues below

Certificate 15. Runtime 91 mins. Director Ivan I Tverdovsky

Zoology available on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from Arrow Academy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcq3b-y9Zo8

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.