Dragon's Return

A reclusive potter nicknamed ‘Dragon’, exiled from his isolated homestead, returns years later, aiming to win back the trust of the villagers.

Set in a remote, mountainous part of what would become present-day Slovakia, Dragon’s Return begins with the unexpected return of Dragon, whose presence unsettles his former neighbours. Scarred and withdrawn, he makes little effort to endear himself. His return stirs old tensions with Šimon and Eva, but although there’s a complicated history between them, little unfolds as one might expect.

This impeccably structured cautionary tale about prejudice and mob mentality is spellbindingly shot in black-and-white by Vincent Rosinec, whose almost tactile imagery heightens the story’s stark beauty. The sound design is particularly striking - Ilja Zeljenka’s atonal score is so perfectly woven into the film’s sonic texture that it seems to rise organically from the landscape itself. It remains a tragedy for Slovak cinema that director Eduard Grečner was not permitted to make another film until the 1990s.