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

(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.

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.