April 27, 2020kin and TV shows

Review of the film "Sputnik". In Kazakhstan, no one will hear your scream

In our country, fiction and horror of the 80s treat special trepidation. Thanks to the VHS era on "Alien" , "Predator" , "Terminator" And "Something" about two generations have grown. Through the efforts of Volodarsky, Gavrilov and other masters of dubbing, the American classic is pretty “raveled” and became the same part of our cultural code as, for example, "Diamond hand".

The highest form of flattery is an imitation, and therefore only a matter of time when one of the Russian filmmakers finally decides to express a love of films with a vidica with his own full-length Ommazh. Or, as sarcastically say skeptics, "answer". As soon as the trailer came out "Satellite" , It seemed that it still happened.

1983. The orbit-4 spacecraft returned to the ground, but something happened during the descent. As a result, one of the two astronauts is torn to pieces, and the second is unconscious. To assess the condition of the survivor, from Moscow to the institute in Kazakhstan, a neurophysiologist Tatyana Klimova is brought to a daring non-conformist, whose career is about to go to the bottom due to dangerous experience over the patient. Pretty quickly the girl learns that they called her not at all for the sake of a simple examination. A predatory alien creature, capable of briefing for a short time, settled in the cosmonaut of Veshnyakov. But the parasite and the carrier cannot exist separately. Klimova set the task to find out how to finally extract an individual from Veshnyakov and at the same time save his life.

First of all, no – this is not a Russian “stranger”, let it in the picture are a couple of visual references to the film Ridley Scott. With a ribbon "Living" There is also little in common. And there and there the alien acted in dominant force, and the main concern of the heroes was survival. But in the "satellite" an alien creature is rather a circumstance than a full -fledged participant in events. The monster sometimes appears and even eats someone, but those who expected a dynamic science fiction horror from the film are disappointed more than all. Before us, in fact, a conversational thriller, almost a play. In total, there are three participants, in addition to Tatyana: the colonel of Semirads who invited her, surprisingly progressive for the Chekist, the scientist Rigel, hysterical and jealous, well, the astronaut of Veshnyaks, which wears Monster inside himself. In the course of the case, the main character will have to understand which of them to believe, which side to occupy and what, in fact, do with an alien.

This format suggests that the relationship between the characters, dialogs and the plot are much more important than a rare action. This is an excellent way out if the budget for "Aliens" Not enough, but I really really want to try strength in science fiction. The problem is that in such a situation, the requirements for the scenario are pretty increased, and he is at least not impeccable in the “satellite”. The authors of the film are Andrey Zolotarev and Oleg Malovichko. The first worked on good "Icebreaker" And disgusting "Dancing to death" , The second – above the hut series "Method" And failure "Night Guards" , And together they wrote "Attraction" , "Invasion" And the dilogy of musicals "Ice". Even a cursory glance at these track records is enough to understand that both scriptwriters adore the same thing – Hollywood cliches.

Time -tested plot moves are used by them without any constraint and with minimal adaptation to Russian or in the case of a “satellite” Soviet realities. Heroes speak and behave in the same way as their numerous prototypes from the same films with VHS that are felt incorrectly at an intuitive level. If you turn on the ribbon of perestroika pore in parallel, then there will be an understanding that even in the characters "Chernobyl" From HBO more from Soviet citizens than in the main actors of the "satellite". However, one of the spectators may not crumble at all.

The film is harder for the film that the cliche becomes the main driving force of the narrative. The characters commit certain actions not because the situation requires this, but as if because the genre requires this. Because the heroes of a similar archetype did this in other films, and motivation in an embrace with logic can go forest. Well, if the points in the script are not connected elegantly, then they are sewn with a profit, which is why the film is full of moments that can be accompanied by memorial “oh how convenient!". There is blindly deep guard, and sudden insights, and the presence of all the necessary components in the Kazakh laboratory to create a specific drug almost on the knee, and much more.

But with all the jambs, the “satellite” is purely technically made solidly. Egor Abramenko’s debut of clipmaker looks not so much as an ommes of the fiction of the 80s, but by stylization for fashionable art holders that the company A24 releases. The picture is verified, with a clearly built frame with the composition of the frame and cold colors. The atmosphere is thick and crushing, largely thanks to the central location – the institute built in the best traditions of Soviet brutalism. In places, the creators even manage to catch up with Saspens, especially in the scene of the first contact with the creature. By the way, it is painted and animated much better than in the first trailer. Of course, there is nothing to compare with, of course, but so far it is the best CGI-social in Russian cinema. Yes, the design is secondary, but it meets the needs of the plot: the alien should be also vile, cute, and hypothetically able to get out of the carrier, without causing him harm.

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But, as already noted, the main thing in the "satellite" is not an alien, but people. And there are no problems with them, in general, at least in terms of acting. Oksana Akinshina as it was and remains one of the best Russian actresses, regardless of the genre, and Peter Fedorov habitually plays out a nervous soldier. More caricatured, but at the same time, the scientist Yagel performed by Anton Vasiliev and Colonel Semidradov, who is played by Fyodor Bondarchuk in a funny wig, came out more colorful. But they, again, are constrained by the script, where instead of characters are archetypes, and instead of characters – biography. So, the film has a whole storyline with a child in an orphanage, which, in theory, should make the audience look at one of the heroes differently. But it does not force. It can be cut entirely, and this will not affect the plot or the images.

To spin the script, better prescribe characters, add more bloody action, and the “satellite” could be called an excellent fantastic thriller. But this is just a more or less competent film category b. Come out in the VHS era, it would hardly become a classic, but maybe he found his audience.

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