Unclenching the Fists () is a 2021 Russian drama film directed by Kira Kovalenko. In July 2021, the film won the Un Certain Regard award at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. It was selected as the Russian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.
Plot
Ada, an Ossetian girl, plans an escape from her life in a small town of Mizur in North Ossetia, Russia.
Cast
Milana Aguzarova as Ada
Alik Karayev as Father
Soslan Khugayev as Akim
Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 86% based on 22 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's critical consensus states: "A daring feature debut for director/co-writer Kira Kovalenko, Unclenching the Fists, explores how family ties can stifle as much as they support". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Salon.coms Gary M. Kramer, praised the director's view calling it "[an] urgent, unsentimental approach [is] what makes Unclenching the Fists so potent".
Diego Semerene of Slant Magazine wrote "Unclenching the Fists is a tale of how the desolation of a nation inhabits and engraves a woman's body".
See also
List of submissions to the 94th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film List of Russian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film