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Unclean power and dark screen

Unclean power and dark screen

In early November, the Russian mystical thriller Side Effect was released. (the second title is "Don't Look Now"). Everything would be nothing, but fans of the genre probably know, that there is an American film "Side Effect" 2013 of the year (He was even nominated for the Golden Bear award.), and a, who is also interested in the classics, can remember the British atmospheric film "Don't Look Now" 1973 of the year.

The question arises: did domestic filmmakers count on that, that these films are already forgotten, or tried to create something like a mockbuster?

Of course, the third option should not be excluded - the use of other people's works as a tribute to their authors (such a technique has long and rightfully existed in art). But in this case, the novelty should be of high quality and attract attention with some of its own "chips".

And then the opinions of professional critics and ordinary viewers about the Russian premiere diverged. If the first mark, that against the background of other domestic horror films, it looks quite decent, the latter find it absolutely standard and predictable - as in the scenario, as well as visually. Perhaps, this film can clearly be said, what is the main problem of the horror genre in Russia: he lacks psychology.

The director and screenwriter of "Side Effect" Alexei Kazakov used to mainly write scripts, including the film "Yolki 1914" and the projects of Zhora Kryzhovnikov. His directorial activity was limited to the New Year's comedy "Wonderland". Current Premiere, apparently, was intended to be a new starting point in Kazakov's career. Comedy, from which splashes "positive", and mystical movie, based on a tragic story, Can you imagine something more dissimilar??

However, the experiment was not very successful.. maybe, the inexperience of the director in this genre affected, which he tried to compensate, looking at the work of colleagues.

The plot of "Side Effect" tells about a married couple who survived the attack of robbers - architect Andrey (Semyon Serzin) and musician Olga (Marina Vasilyeva). Pregnant heroine escapes violence, but from stress, she loses a child and receives severe psychological trauma. Husband decides to go to extreme measures: erase the fateful event from her memory. To do this, he turns to the sorceress Mara (Aleksandra Revenko), who turns out to be a mushroom charmer. Her spell works - but with an unexpected side effect...

The scene of the meeting with his wife, when Andrew realizes the recklessness of his decision, can be called the scariest in the movie. It is devoid of special effects and looks very ordinary., but at the same time it makes you worry about the characters and sharpens understanding, that the most dangerous things do not nest in the flasks of the sorceress, and in the darkness of the human soul.

However, at this turning point, when a movie had a chance to be truly scary, meaningful and captivating, the authors made an unsuccessful U-turn towards paranormal phenomena and secrets of the Soviet era, which for many viewers remained unsolved. And they flavored it all with a monophonic dark palette, in which it is often simply impossible to see something, uninteresting dialogues (a brief conversation between Andrey and Olya surpasses all the rest put together in intensity) and memorable characters, of which only the sorceress stands out, resulting from Revenko quite colorful.

by the way, the name Mara clearly refers to Slavic mythology: so called the night demon, depriving people of reason and leading astray. Russian horror authors generally like to exploit the Slavic bestiary, but in "Side Effect" this move is justified to some extent. The minds of the main characters are really clouded: wife is not in herself because of a powerful psychological trauma, husband - because of remorse and anxiety.

On this basis, one could develop a deep drama with psychoanalysis: Is it okay to get into someone else's head?, even if we are talking about a loved one and you are guided by the best intentions? And the mysterious Mara could only figure as the executor of the fateful decision - which, however, has its own goals and terrible secrets. But if such an idea was implied, then the hodgepodge of visions and symbols that arose towards the end completely overshadowed her and the viewing became simply boring.

In general, the filmmakers should be encouraged for experimentation., however, they failed to come up with anything truly new in Russian horror. maybe, more promising would be an attempt to investigate demons, living inside of us, not in abandoned houses, forests or wells.

Lyudmila Semenova

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