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- And bullets are fast here: sniper action game "Father" is getting ready for national distribution
And bullets are fast here: sniper action game "Father" is getting ready for national distribution
At the Moscow International Film Festival, the audience award went to the Russian military action melodrama "Father". This is the debut film directed by Pavel Ivanov. On May 7, the film will be released in wide Russian distribution. The authors attempted to combine the traditions of early Soviet military cinema, lyrical films of the 70s and modern action films up to cult video games in one full meter. The "Father" passed the first viewer check at the MIFF, the next one will happen on the eve of Victory Day. Izvestia talks about the film and the experiments that were carried out in it.
Which films does "Father" cite?
The very first shots of "Father" immediately refer to the masterpiece of thaw cinema "Father of a Soldier" by Rezo Chkheidze. The authors deliberately emphasize the parallels: here, too, it's 1942, the names of the characters are similar (Chkheidze's is Georgy, Ivanov's is Gabriel), actor Ilya Shakunov even had a mustache, almost like Sergo Zakariadze's. And also, having received an alarming letter from the front, the protagonist goes in search of his son. Chkheidze's son was hospitalized, went missing here, Georgia was there, Siberia is here, but it doesn't matter. Before us is a new interpretation of the same plot, and we immediately realize that this father will also go through the entire war, hoping to meet his son.
A frame from the movie "Father of a Soldier"
Chkheidze's original film, like other thaw pictures about the war, is intonationally polemic with Stalinist cinema, it is all shades, characters, air, Zakariadze's hero is comical and wise, brave and thoughtful, he gives a very special look: for him at the front, everyone he meets is a little bit his son, the same boy whom You need to save someone who needs to be helped.
The "father" takes a completely different path here. Gabriel is a hero in the truest sense of the word. He even has a superpower: he is an unsurpassed sniper with a huge combat experience. He is also an equally experienced leader and teacher, he has all the answers. George represents the people, he is a folklore character. Gabriel, on the other hand, is a man of exceptional qualities, he is the senior assistant and savior that a young viewer may need.
A frame from the movie "Father"
These properties are best shown in a line borrowed from Stanislav Rostotsky's film based on Boris Vasiliev's novel "And the dawns here are Quiet...", where Sergeant Vaskov conducted a most dangerous operation against the German landing force, with only a few inexperienced anti-aircraft gunners at his disposal. Gabriel becomes the head of a sniper squad, where there are also only inexperienced young people, and the squad is mixed, the guys live in the same hut with the girls and constantly find them half-dressed. They need to be turned into tough fighters and just adults, which is what Gabriel does for most of the film. Young people are constantly quarreling and falling in love, conducting lengthy dialogues about art, and this is from "Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katusha" Motyl: the intelligentsia at the front always behaves funny.
At the same time, since the genre of the film tends to action and melodrama, the director aesthetically tends not to thaw cinema. And especially not to the harsh reflections of Herman and Klimov, not to mention the Russian war films. According to the system of characters, psychological development and general drama, "Father" rather resembles "The Young Guard", "Malakhov Kurgan" and "The Tale of a Real Man", war films of the Stalin era. The kind where steel is being tempered before our eyes. This solution allows you to work in the field of action and melodrama, because the genre of drama would be a risk to the audience of cinema.
Where does the experiment begin
The most interesting move of the authors of the picture is to collide two warring worlds at the level of the film language. If Soviet soldiers are shown using the methods of Soviet cinema, then when we turn to the Germans, the aesthetics change dramatically. The main antagonist in the film is an elite Nazi sniper and an officer who takes his son to the eastern front in order to raise his son. This man is, in a sense, Gabriel's doppelganger. He is also a super fighter, strategist and leader, also a father, but he treats his son differently.
A frame from the movie "Father"
This part of the film is similar in plot to "Enemy at the Gate", but visually it is closest to the Metal Gear series of games and their grotesque depiction of villains and battles. The only thing worth it is the scene of father and son fencing practically on the line of contact with the Soviet troops. Swords, metal masks — all this smacks of the absurdity, special perversity and some degree of madness inherent in the characters of Metal Gear.
Of course, it is impossible to show action scenes with such an opponent using "grandfather" methods, therefore, during the moments of fighting, the camera "flies" along with bullets, whole military bases explode from several rifle shots. And Gabriel suddenly turns into Solid Snake, who can carry out a full-fledged military operation alone, calculating all the calculations of the enemy and killing everyone in a few seconds, moving like a lynx and turning into a killing machine for a while.
A frame from the movie "Father"
It is this mix of computer blockbusters and the Soviet tradition that immediately distinguishes the film "Father" from a number of other military films. This is a conversation with several generations of viewers at once, so that each of them can connect on their own level. The audience Award from the demanding MIFF audience shows that it worked. And the industry is already waiting for Pavel Ivanov's next fantasy film, The Magic Lamp, starring Pavel Derevyanko and Artyom Tkachenko, which is scheduled to premiere in April 2027.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
