When is a “talkie” not a “talkie”? When it’s done completely in Ukrainian Sign Language. And I mean completely. No talking. No translation. No subtitles. On the one hand, it feels like a gimmick, and keeps the audience from getting to know much about these characters, but on the other it forces us to become a much more active audience. Even paying attention, though, you’re still not going to get everything.

The story isn’t anything special. Think gangster film in a rundown boarding school. Scorsese’s Goodfellas meets Larry Clark’s Kids. New kid Sergei (Grigoriy Fresenko) works his way into the ranks of the “student mafia” that runs this school for the deaf, rising to become the guy who pimps out two of his classmates, Anya and Svetka, to drivers at the local truck stop. When he begins to fall for Anya (Yana Novikova), the ripples caused within the power structure have dangerous potential.

It’s the execution here that is noteworthy, however. Because there’s no dialogue, no score, never have the most trivial sounds commanded so much power, whether it’s the crunch of Sergei’s boots in the snow as he stalks across the schoolyard before the harrowing finale, or the intimate, corporeal sounds of a sexual encounter between two of the characters. The place where we notice it the most, though, is in the physical confrontations between characters. With no dialogue to warn us, the flashes of violence seem much more sudden, more shocking, more primal. And the film IS violent. Two scenes in particular require a word of warning: a brief but emotionally powerful sexual assault, and the final scene, disturbing in its anticlimactic simplicity. And then there is the scene that may likely make you turn the film off. The camera holds a steady, unblinking side shot through an entire back-room abortion procedure. It is gut-wrenching not only for the dispassionate, mechanical speed of the abortionist, but because as far as I can remember, it’s the only scene where any of the characters vocalize a sound.

The film has its weaknesses. The long, unbroken Steadicam shots sometimes stretch out the tension, but more often just seem overly long and pointless. And, as I said, we get to know very little about these characters and their backstory (unless you know Ukrainian Sign Language) which leaves us as outsiders, observers rather than participants. I think that lessens the emotional weight of the film, overall.

If you’re looking for a feel-good film, a film that inspires, then this isn’t the one for you. If you (like I) believe that a film can both make you feel uncomfortable AND entertain you, this one is certainly worth a watch, if only for the novel experience provided by the film’s “gimmick.” It does have that feeling of being something groundbreaking, a “new direction” in film.

IMDB gives it a 7.3. I would round down to a 7, but with the caveat that you should be prepared to handle a challenging, unflinching look at the ugliness of this world. (running time 2:06)