The Cinematheque

Estonia

“[In] Sarnet’s goofy riff on The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, the film’s heart is in the sincere moments … Here, balancing vodka shots on your toes is easy—what’s hard is the daily practice of sacrifice and love.”

Amy Nicholson, The New York Times

After the Soviet soldier Rafael (Ursel Tilk) is the only survivor of a Cold War kung fu assassin attack along the China-USSR border, he has an epiphany: he must also become a kung fu warrior! His search for martial arts mentorship leads him to the most unlikely of places: an Eastern Orthodox monastery, where black-clad monks will train him. Struggling against a rival monk, and joined by a budding love interest, Rafael embarks on a long, winding, utterly zany journey. The Invisible Fight, the long-awaited follow-up to director Rainer Sarnet’s freak-folk breakout November (2017), is the strangest fun you will have in a cinema this year!

In Estonian with English subtitles

“Crafted with a charming earnestness … Sarnet’s apparent mission [is] to expose the hidden eccentricities or strange underbelly of every character and element of the film’s world.”

Charles Lyons-Burt, Slant Magazine