The premiere of the domestic film started on January 18 "Scythian" with which our site has already introduced readers, and I want to share my impressions without delay.
The film carries the charge of such a steppe male cinema, cruel, stern and silent. Framing the narrative with a historical pattern, the writer and director Rustam Mosafir did not concentrate on authenticity and historical truth, did not delve into the life of the represented nationalities and describe their background in detail, but focused on local, chamber history, on the small-town conflict, which only in the end takes on a larger-scale turn.
While watching it, it seemed to me that this was not a historical film, but a picture made in the genre of post-apocalypse, when after a nuclear war the history of mankind turned back and began again. And the feeling of post-apocalyptic themes did not leave me until the end of the film. We are given a little context, and then everything develops schematically, like a parable: there is a conditional territory and conditional nationalities, and then the main character’s wife and child were kidnapped. There are simply formal proposed circumstances, we are not shown cities and life, culture and complex connections, and the term “Scythians” was introduced more for color and greater drama. In principle, it would be possible to come up with any people: Alphallians, Hyperboreans, Atlanteans, Cthulhuftagns and film about them in an alternative fantasy history mode. In short, complete Warcraft. “Scythians” is a beautiful word familiar to viewers with an accompanying trail. Someone heard something, someone read something, it sounds beautiful, in general, there are at least some threads. In addition, since princes and boyars appear in the film, you can always say that we are making a film about Russian history and “pass for our own.” But all this has nothing to do with the history of a particular people.
In short, "Skif" is more an entertaining film, a film of form rather than historical content. But the creators did not pretend to history, having mixed both the Scythians and Oleg (one must assume Svyatoslavovich, who is smeared with gold here against the backdrop of a squad that constantly crushes some girls) in the principality of Tmutarakan, during whose time there were no Scythians. And the main character runs around with a cross on his body, while talking about the Greek gods, forcing others to swear on blood in front of Perun, then crying about a sin that cannot be washed away. If they had reduced the religious themes to a minimum, it would have been much better. But, I repeat, "Scythian" and was not positioned as a historical epic about the life of ancient peoples.
The plot of the film is simple and linear, moving along one trajectory, despite the fact that there are plot twists and intrigues. However, the viewer quite quickly guesses about the main points, catches the vector, understands who is the enemy, who is the friend, who is the main villain. This is not that bad, but it greatly simplifies the picture and deprives it of the necessary depth. Moreover, these intrigues are often far-fetched. Let's say, the theme of the poisoning of the prince is too cumbersome, and the line with the confrontation between the main character and the very funny khan's son is not at all clear where it came from, neither the origins, nor the motivation, and serves only as a plot crutch, a gun on the wall, which, in the end, will fire , but not more. Here you need to understand that “Skif”, although eclectic, is a genre product. Some are running, others are catching up, there are men with balls of steel all around. But the simplicity of the plot is greatly enhanced by the clearly maintained atmosphere, visual component and almost minimal amount of unnecessary pathos. Beautiful costumes, catchy contrasting makeup, contrasting grainy picture, volume and tactility, a lot of naturalistic dirt and blood. In this regard, the film crew mastered the budgets very well; it is clear that penny after penny. For reference lovers, I’ll say that the visuals reminded me of something "Centurion" by Neil Marshall, Pathfinder by Marcus Nispel, something from Zack Snyder, of course, from "Mad Max" all parts, especially the makeup, music, the fight with suspenders and the general laconicism of the picture, which I will talk about separately later. One of the main characters, Marten, reminds me in appearance of the rejuvenated character Sho played by Christopher Neame in film "Steel Dawn". The scene of Marten's first appearance is especially similar to Breaking Dawn. The cameraman shoots a lot with a hand-held camera; it seems that the frame lacks solidity and sedateness, but there is some kind of feature and even suspense in this. But the general plans of nature are definitely very impressive and beautiful.
If we focus on the characters separately, then there are many male heroes, but they are heterogeneous, but the female character (Vasilisa Izmailova) is essentially alone, he has little screen time, one and a half words of text. The heroine failed to demonstrate the strong character declared at the beginning of the film, did not demonstrate acting skills, and as a result the character turned out to be rather weak. In my opinion, we don’t even know the heroine’s name.
Two main characters Lutobor (Alexey Faddeev) and Kunica (Alexander Kuznetsov), embody the cinematic archetype of two opposites or former enemies forced to become partners. Marten came out more charismatic, Lutobor more bearded, both of them do more than they talk. The film as a whole is laconic, and laconicity is what is generally considered to be the masculine quality of film, when every laconic phrase has depth and weight and is spoken at the right time and in the right place, as was the case in classic westerns and samurai cinema. The depth of phrases in “Skif” is lacking, just as there is a monstrous lack of humor or at least irony. At one point the hero says: “I’m sorry, prince, I couldn’t leave you alive.” Even if the hero said this phrase as: “I’m sorry, prince, I couldn’t resist” - it would still sound fresh. Because “I couldn’t leave” is an inventory of inventory and a statement of fact, and “I couldn’t resist” is an expression of the character’s attitude to the situation and, albeit microscopic, but a characteristic of his inner world. In “Skif” the phrases are simple, but not aphoristic, and, as a rule, they are always unambiguous. It is because of this that there is a lack of magic between the two characters, and as soon as something similar to magic and male friendship begins to appear, the movie ends. Speaking of magic. She is present here, not only figuratively, but also literally, and it seemed to me an unnecessary component of the film. If the creators had focused more on the road movie and the relationship between the two heroes, it would have been much more interesting, I would even say just what it needed. And all these transformations into dragons, bears and biting off heads... it's all a bit of a false tooth in a healthy jaw.
We should not forget that “Skif” is still an action film, and although battles do not await us around every corner, everything in this part of the film is very good. The film opens with a fight shot in a long dynamic take. The choreography of the fight between the stars is lacking, but it is strong, everything is in its place, there is rhythm, there are good angles, and through the fight we get to know the iconic character. A classic, proven move that sets the tone and makes you take the film more seriously than the viewer originally intended. The fights are done well, they are not sluggish, not clumsy, but collected. The duel between Marten and Yar is not inferior to similar genre fights, and, perhaps, this is the most “modern” fighting game of all shown in “Skif”.
Towards the end I want to return to the topic of the Scythians, but in the context of drama. In the finale, we must be filled with respect and empathy for the proud Scythian people, who at some point are contrasted with the compatriots and comrades of the protagonist. Understand that these are also people, a nation, a dying culture that is also forced to survive in this cruel world. The micro scene also works for this - the line of a small Scythian family performed Fedora Starykh, from whom we recently interviewed. But at the same time, we remember that these same people kidnapped the wife and son of the main character for gold, and were ready to hand her over to be torn to pieces. A certain dissonance of perception occurs. Or should we choose which side we are on?
The film isn't perfect, but it's definitely not a bad one. There are completely unnecessary scenes in it, such as the scene with Perun's guard, but there are scenes of a very high level. He's like "Mad Max: Fury Road" - is unambiguous, linear, moves almost directly from point A to point B and is focused on the visualization of a dystopian society, but if you have the opportunity to watch this work, then I personally recommend doing so. From the point of view of atmosphere, aesthetics and visuals, we have never made such a film, and many will not like it, because it is not yet customary for us to shoot like this. The style can be roughly described as steppunk (there is steampunk, dieselpunk, and we will have steppe punk). In a similar vein, it would be necessary to shoot, for example, a film "Wolfhound", but, alas, they were not yet mature enough. The minimum number of media actors does not distract from viewing and allows you to better immerse yourself in the action. The movie is controversial, but interesting, and the film crew, led by Rustam Mosafir, definitely has the potential for more.
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Tags: Alexander Kuznetsov, Alexey Faddeev, Rustam Mosafir, Skif, Fedor Starykh
Tags: Alexander Kuznetsov, Alexey Faddeev, Rustam Mosafir, Skif, Fedor Starykh
Just watched the movie. I like it.
Based on the review, I will say that I do not entirely agree with reducing religious themes to a minimum, since much of this is based on it. Perhaps the inclusions of mysticism should have been made more conventional, showing the “beast” in a more practical image, ala the Viking berserk, and yes, the “guard” should have been removed. But in general, religion, as for me, is the theme here. Perun there, as far as I understood, was already like a relic of the past among Christians, and he quite logically took his “partner”, as a religious fanatic, to the altar to swear, he just made a mistake with God out of ignorance.
Regarding the presence of Scythians in these conventional times, they seemed to say that the people were ancient, their remains miraculously wandered somewhere.
In general, historical inconsistencies can be fully tolerated, especially considering, as you said, that there were no claims to authenticity.
I was especially impressed by the key turns of events. The end of Marten’s duel with the leader, how the prince accepted the “Scythians” - this is a tramp, everything I love.
The only thing I didn’t understand was the “axe in the back” of the marten during the abduction of relatives, what’s the point? What's the goal? This is somehow completely unrevealed.
That's basically what I meant.
Thanks, interesting.
Thanks for the review, I'm interested.