Angel City: Gosha Kutsenko starred in a TV series about special people
The hit of the online cinema festival "New Season" will be shown at a secular premiere in Moscow today, and will begin to be released online on February 5. This is Gosha Kutsenko's best role in many years after "The Land of OZ" and a serious attempt to talk in a simple and understandable language to the mass audience about people with disabilities. And both physically and mentally, as well as socially. Izvestia appreciated the authors' attempt to make a series on a difficult topic and tell us what came of it and what did not.
What is the series "Getting on your Feet" about
Okko's "Getting Back on Your Feet" project begins with a deceptive prologue. An elderly man named Stary (Gosha Kutsenko) is released from prison after a long time in prison for murder and goes home to a provincial town to meet with his former accomplice (Alexey Rozin), get his share of the long—standing big money, and then - as it goes. Or take revenge if he realizes that there is a reason. In short, we have a complete feeling that it will be "The Count of Monte Cristo" or "The Way of Carlito", because they say about the Old One that he is a dangerous man.
But in his apartment, the Old Man meets his daughter Olya (Mila Ershova), whom he considered dead. She is non-walking, uses a wheelchair and dances with other children with disabilities. She hates her father, believing him to be responsible for her injury and the death of her mother. The old one is trying to find a common language with her and dreams of giving her an expensive operation. In the meantime, he flirts with a local police officer (Olga Lerman) and gets a job at a coffee shop, where he meets barista Sasha with Down syndrome (Anton Sankevich). All these heroes have a long way to go together.
Showrunner Alexander Noskov (in collaboration with Polina Shatalova) chose a very difficult path. It was possible to film this series as an ordinary crime story. Rozin and Kutsenko would have masterfully staged a fight between two former friends, would have torn their entire tiny town to shreds, along with a corrupt mayor and well-fed policemen. And everyone would have watched a strong genre movie. Instead, the task was significantly complicated, although the skeleton was left proven and conservative.
The idea of the authors is clear from the very first minutes. The main character feels like an outcast. After serving time for murder, "normal" people don't even want to talk to him, he's missed a lot in two decades in prison. But his daughter, a wheelchair user, is in the same position, who does not give up, rehearses a complex dance number for a big competition, and dreams of going to a place where there is more inclusion and opportunity than in a backwater without ramps. Sasha, the barista, considers himself fully socialized and positive, but if you look closely, it turns out that he is the best barista in the coffee shop, because he works there alone, and his wife is generally a separate and rather sad story.
The authors continue to draw these parallels. Svyatoslav Rogozhan's character is in love with modern dance, although it is almost impossible to practice it in the provinces. For the locals and even for your parents, you'll still be a freak at best, who needs to be reminded of this once again. It's hard to be a single woman in a police uniform, it's hard to be the son of a local "godfather" or his mistress, whom everyone knows about, but she's not a wife. They are all outcasts in one way or another.
How did the series "Get on your feet" turn out?
Despite the fact that Stary is announced as the main character of the series, the focus of our attention is quickly moving away from him. Because, as in the above-mentioned "Land of O3", this is still not a hero, but a magical assistant, simply put, an angel. A cloud in his pants came out of prison. Kind, sensitive, timid, simple-minded. The old one sometimes, of course, includes a "thug", but even this looks very touching and innocent. He's all sanctity, even if you paint a halo over his head.
Even if he sometimes breaks down because someone doesn't see how hard he tries to be friends with everyone and help everyone, especially his newfound daughter. We quickly understand everything about him and begin to perceive him as a function, not a personality, although it is possible that in the second half of the series Kutsenko will show a vivid evolution of the image. In the meantime, he is psychological and precise in nuances, but his Old One is too bright and impeccable.
The daughter of the Old Olya comes to the fore. She is a true hero, and her image is woven from a million precise everyday details and the emotions that people in her position often experience. Mila Ershova's consultant was the famous extreme athlete and racing driver Zlata Varlamova, who herself has been in a wheelchair for about the same age as Olya, who was obviously copied from her. When communicating with other characters, Olya focuses on their awkwardness and lack of understanding of how to interact with her, what to fear and what not, what would be tactless and what is useful. And we can guess that the film was conceived, by and large, for this very purpose.
The only thing that prevents us from getting into the situation is that we are subconsciously aware that in front of us is the star of "Outsourcing" and "At the behest of the Pike" Mila Yershova, who has nothing wrong with her legs. You can be ironic about Hollywood, which today requires authenticity in this matter, but the truth is that the viewer still sees a superstar in front of him and has to "forget" about it every time. In the case of a full-length movie, this is easier to do.: You're sitting there in the audience, and if you've already "believed", then you'll continue to "believe". It's more difficult in the series because you have to reconnect to it after a week-long break. Therefore, the role of Walter White's son in the TV series "Breaking Bad" was played by R.J. Mitt, who really has cerebral palsy.
It is clear that there are a million similar examples. The deaf Troy Kotsur won an Oscar for the film "CODA: Child of Deaf Parents," the deaf Millicent Simmonds played superbly in "A Quiet Place," the deaf Lauren Ridloff became a superhero in Marvel's "Eternals." Of course, we also need to recall the magnificent "Tribe" by Miroslav Slaboshpitsky, the world silent superhit, where all the main roles were played by deaf guys. If we take artists in wheelchairs, then Kira Allen accomplished a feat in the thriller "Run," everyone fell in love with George Robinson in "Sexual Enlightenment," and in the musical "Wicked," the sister of the main character is played by Marissa Bode, a brilliant actress with a disability.
This in no way detracts from the work of Mila Ershova. But modern cinema already has a crisis of authenticity, and the reality of the actress Ershova, also a beauty, constantly distracts from immersion in the harsh environment where her heroine is forced to exist. It's not easy for us as it is, because the town is abstract, the time of action is unknown, apparently, 2019 or so. Zero signs of Russian modernity. At the same time, it's not a fact that another actress could have done as well as Yershova, because she played everything perfectly.
In contrast, Sasha, played by Anton Sankevich with real-life Down syndrome, ends up being the most striking character in the series. Technically, this is a supporting role, but we look forward to every meeting with him, because Sasha is absolutely natural and unpredictable. Every action and every remark of his character absolutely causes our reaction, be it laughter, compassion, anger or fear.
In the case of this series, fear is generally a key concept. In an attempt to make a product with the aim of inclusion, the creators decided to minimize the feeling of fear, translate it into humor or melodramatism, but without working with this topic, nothing will work anyway.
The ostracized film "Temporary Difficulties" perfectly conveyed the father's fear of accepting his son's diagnosis and figuring out what to do with him next. Actually, the question of what to do with this fear in a work of fiction often becomes a key one for authors. There's too much risk of scaring the viewer by telling them things that even people with disabilities try to keep quiet about. On the other hand, when honesty is replaced by pity, there will not be the desired result.
"Get Back on Your Feet" comes out at the right time. The audience has been trained for a long time — and in Russia too. If not everyone watched Sergei Dvortsevoy's "In the Dark," then almost the whole country saw "Anton is Here," by Lyubov Arkus, and since then many films on this topic have been shot, and simultaneously with the series, the screening of the film "Yura was Here" will begin in the Russian box office — all about the same, about the adaptation of special people, xenophobia and their acceptance. "Above Eternal Rest" is about to be released in the cinema, where the theme of fear is revealed very deeply. And for sure, there will be a movie about those for whom there is no place in society — or there is, but one that they are justly not satisfied with. Because it's okay to be different.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
