[yasr_overall_rating]
Middle-aged zoo worker Natasha still lives with her mother in a small coastal town. She is stuck and it seems that life has no surprises for her until one day – she grows a tail and turns her life around.
Ivan I. Tverdovskiy’s “Zoology” promises a Lynchian dissection of humanity, a world seen through a Cronenbergian body-horror lens, where matters of flesh and soul are one and the same. After all, it deals with an inexplicable mutation that leads to a major character transformation. Alas, the director keeps it low-key – as was clearly his intention. There are no spilling guts or visceral moments of terror and/or poignancy, no embellishments. “Zoology,” tells it like it is, and as a result falls flat on its tail.
Lonely recluse Natasha (Natalya Pavlenkova) lives with her mom in a small apartment somewhere in coastal Russia. She is soft-spoken and shy – and hence the object of ridicule from her co-workers at the zoo, who play pranks on her, like filling up her cabinet drawers with live rats. One day Natasha faints at work. Consequently, she starts feeling weak and experiencing lower back pains. When a fleshy tail finally sprouts out of her butt, Natasha goes through countless inconclusive X-Rays and tests.
At the same time, she falls for a local, dashing young doctor, Peter (Dmitriy Groshev). Along with her tail sprouts a gradually unveiling sexuality, a discovery of self. Natasha dyes and cuts her hair, trims her skirts, goes sledding and clubbing with Peter, and makes out with him in public. Only her tail accidentally pops out at the club, freaking everyone out – except Peter that is, whose main object of affection may very well be the tail and not the person to whom it’s attached.
Since the appearance of the extra body part, Natasha also seems to have formed a relationship with animals, touching hands with monkeys and whispering sweet nothings to the wild cats at the zoo. Deemed demonic, she’s not allowed in church. Her ultimate violent action, which comes at the end, although drastic, can be foreseen a mile away.
The film, while sometimes charming and innovative, as a whole, is as unostentatious as its protagonist, a fleeting experience whose imagery and themes remain blank, as flat as the ocean in its grey frames. I happen to speak Russian fluently and while some of the dialogue is natural, other bits seem needlessly improvised, in need of a good polish (which the U.S. subtitles, weirdly, do quite well). “Zoology”’s production values sometimes reveal themselves in garishly lit scenes or odd framing and lighting. There are also some inexplicable creative choices, of which I’ll name one: why is Natasha’s boss at the zoo so freakin’ cruel? She makes all of the Horrible Bosses seem like Gandhi in comparison.
“Zoology” shows that a blossoming comes from within. It’s a story of alienation and our lack of acceptance – folks either treat Natasha as a monster or as a sexual curiosity. It contains a subdued central performance that verges on impassive. It’s basically a Slavic “Slice” or “Raw” – except not as compelling as either.
Now available on a Special Edition Blu-ray from Arrow Video
