Clint tends bar at a snowbound roadhouse whose patrons speak a language he doesn’t understand, and things may not be what they seem. Desperate for answers, he drives a sled team to a nearby cave but finds no peace. Are the spirits that confront him mere figments of his imagination — or will they slowly tear his body and soul to pieces?
Willem Dafoe plays Clint, a self-isolated man tending a bar tucked far away behind snowy mountain peaks lined with evergreens. As he quietly reads an old book in the amber light, customers – one or two at a time – drop in for a libation, and possibly a bit of company. They speak Inuit or Russian, neither of which Clint understands. Thus, the bartender and his patrons communicate by pointing, shaking their heads, or simply smiling. Perhaps Clint even prefers this type of rudimentary connection with others, implying that his choice of locale was by design.
Despite his attempts at relative seclusion, Clint’s demons lurk in the distance. This subtle nagging pushes him to drive his dogsled team to a remote mountain cave – descending as it were into a journey of the mind – hoping for a resolution of some type.
Clint harbors many regrets that come to bear, either through his narration or the extensive dream sequences. At a personal level, both Clint and his father believe they failed each other. Clint’s brother takes their father’s side, as a kind of devil’s advocate preaching an elusive redemption. Clint’s long-dead father, on the other hand, talks past any semblance of unresolved issues. Instead, the workaholic surgeon reminisces about the rare vacations with his boys by elaborating on his choices for fishing lures in painstaking detail, finally polishing off the yarn with a loving description of an ice chest packed with bologna and cheese sandwiches, and ice-cold Hawaiian Punch – as if life couldn’t get any better than that.
Later, Clint encounters his ex-wife (Douina Sichov) who blames Clint for infidelity, and for abandoning her and their small son, played by Anna Ferrara. However, Clint’s tortured soul extends beyond his own failures to those of humanity at large. Images of execution-style murders in a shuttered Nazi prison camp nearby, of deformed and bleeding people, as well as other jarring metaphors, manifest themselves with unexpected regularity.
This sort of visceral movie is about the experience, not the logic. Graphic nudity and violence ensure that scenes literally bleed from one to another. Along the way, the passages weave an odd and surreal continuity, with moments of quiet boredom that segue swiftly into ferocious visual jolts.
Simon McBurney makes a brief appearance as a magician, whom Clint queries about the black arts. The magician matter-of-factly notes once again the apparent need to discard reason in order to understand any lessons that sorcery might teach.
Throughout the film, brilliantly revealed on Blu-ray, the superb cinematography puts a variety of expansive landscapes on full display – from snowy white sled tracks to the stark orange beauty of an African desert, to lush forests lined with sparkling brooks, to magnificent sunrises and sunsets. Seemingly autobiographical in nature, co-writer and director Abel Ferrara offers a glimpse – under the hood so-to-speak – into the dark corners shrouding his psyche. “Siberia” very intentionally shares nothing in common with conventional films or linear narratives, which will no doubt infuriate some viewers, but also intrigue and fascinate others.
In Select Theaters June 18th and on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital June 22nd
