A Family (2004)

The Tallinn-Moscow-Tallinn night express leaves Tallinn, the capital of the Republic of Estonia at 5 p.m. and arrives in the Russian capital Moscow next morning at 9. For many decades, the train had forty-four sleeping compartments and was hugely popular. Today only five sleepers remain and even those are half empty. Politics and economics changed tremendously in these two countries, but Ida, a Russian living in Estonia, still works for this formerly exclusive train. The director of the film met Ida, the train team leader, while travelling and they spent half an hour talking. The bond was made. The next time that they met, he already had a camera with him. Ida, Natasha, Larissa and Fyodor Vassilyevich are family members who have a tight relationship that is precious and sacred to them but also limiting, challenging and obstructing. Meeting Ida and her family over the span of three years, the director achieved an amazing intimacy. The film crew became part of the family. That is why the contemplation about various segments of life expressed in the film – especially love and joy, but also failure and disappointment – is so truthful and deep. The thoughts that the family shares in the film are presented as if they are writing them in a secret diary.