Julia Hamilton is gripped by Ukrainian crime thriller Pamfir.
This stunning film is the feature-length debut of Ukrainian director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, with the actor Oleksandr Yatsentyuk playing the eponymous leading role of Leonid Pamfir, which means “stone” in Ukrainian, or, perhaps, “rock”.
Pamfir himself is as solid as his nickname, a veteran smuggler who, in an attempt at reform, returns home at the opening of the film to find his teenage son, Nazar, (Stanislav Potiak) making costumes for the local carnival, Malanka, a festival based on a Christianised folk tale of pagan origin.
