DAU. Natasha (2020) poster
2020 · drama

DAU. Natasha

Directed by Ilya Khrzhanovsky, Jekaterina Oertel2h 18m2020
ElsewhereIMDb6.32kRT85%Metacritic75TMDB5.643
  • heavy
  • measured
  • intense
  • inventive
  • bleak
  • signature
Movie DNA

Heavy, measured, measured drama, inventive in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, cold, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

Natasha runs the canteen at a secret 1950s Soviet research institute. This is the beating heart of the DAU universe, everyone drops in here: the institute's employees, scientists and visiting foreign guests. Natasha's world is a small one, split between the demands of the canteen during the day and alcohol fuelled nights with her younger colleague Olga, during which the two confide their hopes of romance and for a different future. At a party one evening Natasha becomes close to a visiting French scientist Luc Bige and the two sleep together. The following day her life takes a dramatic turn when she is summoned to an interrogation by the KGB's General Vladimir Azhippo who questions the nature of her relationship with the foreign guest.

Our read · DAU. Natasha (2020) reads as a heavy, measured, inventive drama entry — measured in intensity, intimate in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook, with a strong directorial signature. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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The shape of DAU. Natasha

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want raw, oppressive Soviet-era immersion into power, sex, and surveillance.

ends unsettlingit leaves you shakena slow buildgrips by minute 25attention 4/5feels its lengthsubtitles: full
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upexplicit sexnuditysexual violencecringe humiliationdrug use

Skip it tonightSkip if explicit degradation, long runtime, or bleak tone will ruin your night.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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