The opening scene has the brothers with their friends jumping from a tower into the lake. Already, we're introduced to the brilliant cinematography with some amazing shots of the boys jumping into the water. Ivan has fear of heights and refuses to jump. He refuses to even get down, fearing the others calling him a coward. His mother gets there to rescue him back home. He then goes to meet the boys who, as expected, end up ripping on him. When Andrey calls him a coward, they start fighting and run all the way back home to be the first to tell on the other to their mother. The opening credits are sneakily rolled out during this running sequence. I'm impressed so far.

The film, at its core is a growing up story of Andrey and his younger brother Ivan, brought up by a single mother with help from the grandmother. Their father, pays a sudden visit after going absconding for 12 years and decides to take the kids on a fishing trip. The film deals with the road trip these guys venture into and the eventual ending at the island they travel to. Not very unlike Alfonso Cuarón's Y tu mamá también that dealt with the coming-of-age story of two boys taking a road trip to a secret beach. While 'Y Tu..' revolved around sex considering the age of the boys and the lonely older woman as their companion, The Return has this father character who they know nothing about, where he was all these years and why he has returned.

The mother doesn't seem too happy about his return, the grandmother is actually seen sombre and Ivan too, though he's the only person to question everything about him. Andrey is simply kicked that he's gotten the father back and in fact remains faithful to him through most of the adventure that follows.

During the trip, the father is very strict, rude, aggressive and frequently irresponsible. He makes the boys row the boat and chop branches when he naturally is the strongest of the lot, makes them cook the fish they caught, has them fix the tent, leaves Ivan stranded in the middle of nowhere, beats Andrey for disobeying his orders and so on. Well, he's just being a typical dick of a father that every son hates while growing up.  Only major difference is, it's as if he's trying to make up for all the lost years by teaching the kids everything during this 3 day trip. He also mentions to the boys that he might be gone for another 12 years if they miss out on the trip.

Ivan smiles only once throughout the movie. His hatred towards his father keeps aggravating as the movie progresses, also fueled by this intelligently filmed sequence where he catches the father in the driver's seat leching at a woman pass by and then some more through the rear-view mirror. He even tells Andrey that he'd kill him if he touches him one more time, also him stealing the father's knife made the audience assured that something's going to happen soon.

It's all built up masterfully to the final sequence, the grim scene that follows and at the end of the movie we're shown a series of pictures from the good moments that they had during this trip and some more from the childhood.

Questions you're bound to have at the end of this film:  Select the text below using your mouse for minor spoilers.

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 - So why did he return? What did he do during this time? He says he once overate fish so he stopped eating them anymore. Where was this place?
- In the island, he digs a grave-like hole to take out a mysterious box. He keeps the box safely back in their boat. What was in it?

 "

These things are never explained or revealed, intentionally. We only get know what the boys know and vice versa.

If observed and looking back, there are biblical allegories that form the theme of the film, the usage of which reminded me of Coen Brothers on Barton Fink and various Alejandro Jodorowsky's works. Some of them that I managed to spot, I'm sure there are some more, if not a lot.

- The film begins and ends in a tower.
- The film takes place over seven days of a week.
- The father is a Jesus like character in the film.  He returns on a sunday (select the text within the quotes for the spoiler - "and dies on a friday").
- When the boys see him for the first time, he's asleep on the bed in an obvious lamentation-of-christ-type pose. (select the text within the quotes for the spoiler - "he does the jesus christ pose a couple of other times at the end of the film")
- Boys, after seeing him, run to the attic to see a picture of his and confirm if it's the right guy. The picture is deviously kept in a book that looked like an illustrated Bible.
- The family has a dinner during which they have wine together. The Last Supper.
- The boys are named Andrew and Ivan (John). Both are names of the Apostles of Christ. Equivalent being, the father preaching the boys.

Even without the above mentioned references if you fail to spot them,  the story is very well told with some brilliant performances from all the actors involved. The screenplay and cinematography are phenomenally artistic and exceptionally well thought out throughout. The look of the film is chilling with muted colours except maybe the red car they do the trip on. The score involves a lot of intense, morose violin based music with electronica elements to give a contemporary feel to it.

All the above and the excellent ending add up to a unique psychological thriller that is bound to leave the audience mindfucked. There's a lot more in this film than mentioned in this review and it makes you think and discuss, so all should see. At least once.

Bizarre fact: The actor who played Andrey drowned in the very same lake the film takes place in.