Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2022: #79. Yuriy Bykov’s The Owner

The Owner

We don’t know if this is a case of no news is good or bad news but Yuriy Bykov‘s The Owner has not made any blips on the radar in 2021. His sixth feature was announced just after he had teased an early retirement when 2018’s The Factory wasn’t exactly well received from critiques in his homeland. We were first introduced to the filmmaker in 2013 when his second film The Major premiered at the Critic’s Week in Cannes. His 2014 title The Fool won in competition at the Locarno Film Festival while The Factory premiered at TIFF.

Gist: This tackles the bitter class divide in Russia, asking questions about whether it’s possible for an ordinary Russian man to become independent of his Owner, and if so, what the price would be for this freedom.

Release Date/Prediction: Shot in secret or not shot t all, we’re thinking a return to a major film festival would be in the cards – if we flip a coin perhaps the advantage goes to Cannes.