Asian Phantom: A Korean parable about job search and anime about demons

A black comedy about unemployment from Park Chang-wook. A full-length anime based on the Chainsaw Man franchise. It's a strange story about how a single millionaire found a family in an instant, but he can't figure out where all these people come from. An intelligent woman going crazy in a forest mansion. Four generations of German girls, around whom the strangest events are taking place, taking one life after another. Izvestia has selected from the new Russian rentals those that are definitely not to be missed this weekend.

"Method of exclusion", 18+

Director: Park Chang-wook. Starring: Lee Byung-hong, Song Ye-jin, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran

You definitely didn't expect such a Park Chang-wook. The author of "Oldboy", "United Security Zone", "Thirst", "The Handmaid" and many other cult films, one of the most famous directors in the world, the Korean fearlessly entered a new territory for himself this time. "Method of Elimination" is a black satirical comedy in the spirit of "Parasites", and sometimes a bloody drama about Macbeth. It may be a bit long-winded, but it makes up for it with unexpected twists and really very funny scenes.

But the funny thing is, this film is understood all over the world in the same way as "Bicycle Thieves", the plot of which, of course, became the primary basis of this picture. The main character is a super professional in the paper industry, he has a salary, a family, and a house. And suddenly, cuts are being made across the country, and the hero, like other specialists, finds himself unemployed. With his qualifications, you can't get a job anywhere — only at another paper mill, but there are already too many people who want to go there. And the hero decides to get rid of possible competitors by any means. It's funny, sad and scary to watch, especially for representatives of dying professions like journalists and film critics. And the "Exclusion Method" resembles a person's nightmare after the tenth unsuccessful interview.

"The chainsaw man. Film: The Story of Reza", 18+

Directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara. Starring: Kikunosuke Toya, Reina Ueda, Tomori Kusunoki, Shogo Sakata

The film is an event, one of the most successful non-American releases of the year, the full-length anime "Chainsaw Man". The film has already earned $150 million at the global box office and 37 million rubles in Russia only at preview screenings. According to the results of Thursday, it is now in the first place in the top of the national box office. His operating time is twice as high as the maximum performance of his competitors. Izvestia has already written a little about this painting, but in such cases it is better to see it once.

It is only necessary to overcome the natural rejection that occurs when you hear the name "Chainsaw Man". You just need to know that this is, of course, a metaphor, and the main character is just a drifter, Denji, who met a girl named Reze. There's no need to explain much to anyone what danger such a meeting can pose to a passionate youthful heart, but Denji hasn't read books or gone to the movies, so he doesn't know that, according to the poet, every woman should have a snake — it's bigger than you, and it's bigger than me. What to do with Reza's demonic nature, the young man will have to decide right before our eyes.

Rock anniversaries: "Chaif" at the Live Arena and "Aria" at the VTB Arena

The main cultural events of the week in the Izvestia collection

"Family man", 16+

Director: Dmitry Vlaskin. Starring: Pavel Derevyanko, Yulia Snigir, Tatiana Orlova, Valery Afanasyev, Pavel Vorozhtsov

In August, the premiere of Evgeny Grigoriev's film "Someone Must Die" took place at the Window to Europe festival. Pavel Derevyanko and Yulia Snigir played husband and wife in an expensive country house there, and their characters' passions were boiling over. The film will be released in February, and Aglaya Tarasova and Denis Prytkov will also play there. In the meantime, there is another film where Derevyanko and Snigir play spouses. Why the directors think they are so suitable for each other, we do not undertake to judge.

In any case, the plot here is different. Derevyanko plays a lonely nouveau riche who wakes up one day, and next to him is a strange woman and children, and they assure him that they are his family and have been living with him all these years. If this is a joke, it's a very strange one, because everyone else, including the office staff and even the protagonist's mother, claims that yes, you are a family, and a wonderful, perfect family. A millionaire urgently needs to adapt to a new situation and try on new role models — father and husband.

"Creeper", 18+

Directed by Osgood Perkins. Starring: Tatiana Maslany, Rossif Sutherland, Tess Degenstein, Glen Gordon

After the release of "Soul Collector" and "Monkey," Osgood Perkins finally consolidated his status as a leading master of the horror genre. Expectations are very high for "Creeper" (the original name is Keeper, that is, "Keeper", "Guardian"), although it is already clear that not everyone will accept the film. This is a cinephile trip that works with genre cliches like a postmodern mosaic. Suffice it to say that at the beginning of the picture, a woman and her almost fiance (dating for a year!) he goes to a house in the woods, and there, it turns out, he can imagine ghosts, and the "groom" also leaves for the city on an urgent matter.

In an interview with Izvestia, Perkins and the lead actress Maslany deny a direct connection with Roman Polanski's "Disgust." And, probably, if we had had time to discuss with them the image of the mysterious Slavic beauty appearing in the picture, we would hardly have recognized the parallel with Leos Carax's "Hollow X", where Katya Golubeva played such a girl. On the other hand, they would hardly have denied it definitively.

"If they call my film Minecraft in Russia, I won't object"

Director Osgood Perkins and actress Tatiana Maslany talk about the creation of the horror film "Creeper", their favorite horror films and their attitude to the localization of their work.

"Creeper" is a kind of classic movie quote book, a crossword puzzle for connoisseurs. And Tatiana Maslany is very talented at playing a character from the "New Hollywood" movie of the 60s and 70s. A great actress, for whom individual reactions are more important than a conventionally prescribed heroine. And if you don't know her yet, then at least for her sake this movie is definitely worth seeing.

"The sound of falling", 18+

Directed by Masha Shilinsky

A slow, almost meditative movie, shot with the effect of an aged film, about karma, fate, death and childhood. Four intertwined stories developing on the same German farm. And in each of them is the story of a girl chosen from the next generation of the inhabitants of this farm. Or rather, not even history, but optics. Together with them, we look at the world around us, family members, farm workers, nature, and animals. And we feel how strange it all is for them, how mysterious and how natural.

Naturally, some people come and go, it's not surprising that a young man lost his leg, and the sisters suddenly die right in front of everyone. Quietly, without tantrums, as if it had been planned. All this is the cycle of nature, everything is equally interesting and mysterious. Some of the cause-and-effect relationships in this narrative are gradually being explained to us, but they are still not as important as the sensations. The heroine girls understand how fragile and vulnerable the world around them is, and accept this as the main knowledge they have to live with. And it was shot so aesthetically that Germany even nominated the picture for an Oscar. Another thing is that not every academic will even sit through to the middle, because the film requires a large screen and full immersion.