The roots of Kira Muratova’s impressionistic style are on display in her first solo feature, which was banned by Soviet censors for twenty years. Through an intricate play of flashbacks and shifting perspectives, BRIEF ENCOUNTERS reveals the tangled love triangle that connects a hard-nosed city planner, her free-spirited geologist husband, and the young woman from the countryside whom she hires as their housekeeper. Blending observational realism with new wave experimentation, Muratova crafts a wryly perceptive portrait of two very different women connected by chance yet each navigating her own dreams, ambitions, and disappointments. – Janus Films Brattle Debut 

Double Feature with THE GIRL