The Film: 4/5

Natasha (Natalya Pavlenkova) is a lonely, middle-aged office employee at a zoo who lives with her devoutly religious mother (Irina Chipizhenko) in a cramped apartment. She is so disrespected by her co-workers that when she faints one day during their lunch break, they quickly laugh off the possibility that pregnancy could have been the reason. Natasha’s ordinary life is changed forever the day she goes to see a doctor because of a painful backache and undresses for an X-ray to reveal that she has a full-grown tail, a development which doesn’t seem to faze Peter (Dmitry Groshev), the radiologist conducting the examination, in the slightest. Initially reluctant to deal with the strange new appendage, Natasha embraces it as a sign that positive things are finally happening in her life, including the start of a relationship with Peter.

Director Ivan I. Tverdovsky, who also scripted, takes a naturalistic approach to his absurdist, satirical narrative that reminded me much of Spike Jonze’s science-fiction romance Her at times. The world of Zoology is rendered with realism and a strong attention to character and detail that allows its more fantastical elements to emerge organically and with grace from the story without sticking out like a sore thumb. Tverdovsky merges the disturbing body horror of David Cronenberg with the kitchen sink authenticity of Ken Loach and John Cassavetes and throws in a dash of Guillermo Del Toro’s fascination with society’s underappreciated oddballs and how they are no different than the rest despite their physical abnormalities, all to emotionally stirring effect.

The standout of the film’s modest cast is undoubtedly Natalya Pavlenkova, delivering a strong, fearless performance that requires her to bare both her soul and flesh as part of making Natasha’s unique character arc all the more sincere and compassionate. Pavlenkova exquisitely brings out the once-repressed joy Natasha experiences once she decides to accept her new tail and realize how beautiful she has always been. Tverdovsky takes care to explore throughout Zoology how the social and religious orders often tend to belittle and shun liberated women like Natasha, which Pavlenkova portrays with understated conviction the pain her character is punished with for daring to think highly of herself.

Natasha’s flourishing relationship with Peter, played with nuanced tenderness by Dmitry Groshev, is sweet and crucial to our main character’s newfound freedom (though it takes a disturbing turn during a third act love scene), but it is wisely kept as a subplot that only has a reasonable impact on the narrative’s true emotional core - Natasha coming to terms with the positive and negative effects the tail is having on her life and body. Zoology runs only 91 minutes but that frequently feels almost twice as long due to the glacial, meandering pace imposed by Tverdovsky and his co-editor Vincent Assman, but the director provides a lovely seaside backdrop for the story to play out, charming actors to give it life beyond the script page, and a harrowing finale that feels like the only resolution this tale of a tail could possibly have.

Audio/Video: 4/5

As part of their Arrow Academy line of world cinema classics and under-the-radar arthouse darlings, Arrow Video presents Zoology in an MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition transfer in full 1080p resolution and the film’s original 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio, with both Russian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 stereo tracks. The video and audio have been supplemented with optional English subtitles for this release.

Shot digitally with Arri Alexa cameras and lenses by cinematographer Aleksandr Mikeladze, the film boasts a crisp and bright image tinted with cool blues that bring out texture and beauty in the drab costuming, sets, and exteriors. On the audio, the 5.1 track is luxurious in how it spaces out the various elements of the sound mix and allows them to integrate with clarity and consistent volume levels that prevent distortion and manual volume adjustment. If you’re watching this Blu-ray on a standard television set, you might prefer the 2.0 stereo track with its moderate higher volume and pitch.

Extras: 2/5

The two main bonus features are an interview with actor Dmitry Groshev (12 minutes) in Russian with optional English subtitles and another interview with film historian Peter Hames (25 minutes). They are both good, in-depth chats that break down Zoology in detail, with Groshev discussing his involvement with the film and working relationships with director Tverdovsky and star Pavlenkova, while Hames focuses extensively on the project’s background, the career of its director, and the themes explored in its narrative among other topics.

The Blu-ray also comes with reversible cover art and a collector’s booklet featuring an essay about Zoology by Michael Brooke, a regular contributor to Sight & Sound who has produced Arrow’s Walerian Borowczyk and Krzysztof Kieslowski box sets, and an interview with director Tverdovsky.

Overall: 3/5

A tender and sweet-natured modern fable that derives its dramatic power from the grounded approach filmmaker Ivan I. Tverdovsky brings to his surreal narrative and the magnetic star performance from Natalya Pavlenkova, Zoology works beautifully as a lo-fi indie genre creation. Fans of international outsider cinema can certainly appreciate this film in this age where original visions are systematically being choked to death by franchise-obsessed studios afraid to take chances. Kudos to Arrow Video for giving this soulful oddity that might have ordinarily been shelved or relegated to obscurity an excellent Region A Blu-ray release with a top-notch HD transfer and fine supplements.