It doesn't hurt to keep silent: The scandalous "Michael" and the romantic horror "The Abyss"

Michael Jackson's nephew plays his famous uncle in a biopic about the pop king. Mark Edelstein is hanging over a precipice on the remains of a parachute. A couple of French losers are storming the NBA. David Dastmalchian is playing a paranoid mutant again. Yasuhiro Aoki will make his full-fledged animation debut with a masterpiece about futuristic mermaids. Izvestia — about what to watch in the cinema next weekend.

"Michael", 18+

Directed by Antoine Fuqua. Starring: Jaafar Jackson, Miles Teller, Giuliano Valdi, Colman Domingo, Nia Long.

A large-scale biopic about the "king of pop" Michael Jackson has reached Russian distribution. The film covers the period from the first performances of the Jackson 5 to the triumphant Bad tour of the late 1980s. The main role was played by the singer's nephew Jaafar Jackson. The authors relied on a musical attraction: the film reconstructs in detail the filming of Thriller, performances from Off the Wall and Bad, and one of the central lines was Michael's painful dependence on the approval of Joe Jackson's father.

"Michael" had to go through a number of production difficulties: massive reshoots and shortened timekeeping. Critics note the "sterile" scenario, in which the most scandalous episodes of the singer's life are either softened or put out of brackets.

This did not stop "Michael" from collecting $800 million already, becoming one of the highest-grossing musical biopics of recent years. Even before the release, the movie's trailer scored more than 116 million views in the first day — more than the trailers for "Bohemian Rhapsody" and Taylor Swift's concert film. The studio is so pleased with the result that it is already preparing a sequel — some of the material for the sequel was reportedly shot during the main work on the film.

The Abyss, 16+

Directed by Alexey Ionov. Starring: Tina Stojilkovic, Mark Edelstein, Stepan Belozerov, Ivan Zabelin, Victoria Butskikh, Ivan Martynov.

Fans of survival thrillers with a melodramatic core should pay attention to the new movie "The Abyss". In the story, newlyweds Dasha and Sasha go on a honeymoon to Elbrus and decide to jump with a parachute. But Dasha's former lover turns out to be at the helm of the plane, and a few minutes after takeoff, a disaster occurs. All three miraculously remain alive, but they are hanging on tangled slings literally over a mountain precipice — among forest fires, without communication and the ability to get out.

The film focuses not so much on action as on psychological tension: the characters hang between life and death, while simultaneously sorting out old feelings, jealousy and panic. The main roles were played by young stars Tina Stojilkovic, Stepan Belozerov and Mark Edelstein, whom many call the main magnet of the project after "Anora".

"It doesn't hurt to dream," 16+

Directed by Anthony Marsiano. Starring: Jean-Pascal Zadie, Rafael Kenard, Josh Casaubon.

The hit of the French rental, which is already called the European version of "Jerry Maguire" and "1 + 1". In the center of the plot are two absolute losers: one works as a salesman at a video rental, the other cleans Orly airport. There is no money, no connections, no prospects either, but there is a fanatical love for basketball. At some point, they decide to make an almost insane leap — to become sports agents and break into the world of the NBA.

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The film is based on a true story: the creators tell the story of two Frenchmen who literally managed to integrate into the American sports industry from scratch. The film focuses not so much on sports as on the chemistry between the characters — a mixture of adventurism, desperation and very French humor. Actors Jean-Pascal Zadie and Rafael Kenard were specially coached by basketball consultants: the director wanted their characters to look not like professional athletes, but like people who had been playing in the yard all their lives and suddenly found themselves next to big money and American sports.

Resident Evil: Mutation, 18+

Directed by Nancy Leopardi. Starring: Samantha Cochran, David Dastmalchian, Ashley Greene, Cindy Taylor.

Chamber sci-fi horror in the spirit of the famous Resident Evil game series. The plot centers on 16—year-old Ellie, who suffers from a mysterious autoimmune disease. The girl lives in a luxurious mansion in Malibu with her adoptive parents, wealthy biotech entrepreneurs who seem to be hiding something much more terrible from her than a diagnosis. Everything changes when Ellie meets the rebellious Brooke on the beach and begins to suspect that her parents' experiments are directly related to her body and blood.

The film balances between teen drama, body horror and a paranoid thriller about corporations and genetic mutations. And many people already call David Dastmalchyan the main decoration of the picture — the actor again plays a frightening, nervous character as if he had been acting exclusively in horror films all his life.

Ciao, 12+

Directed by Yasuhiro Aoki. Starring: Hiromi Kawakami, Kenta Miyake, Taro Nikuguso, Yu Okano.

It's a rare case for an anime that simultaneously looks like a crazy romantic comedy, environmental fiction and a very gentle tale of love between absolutely incompatible creatures. The action takes place in futuristic Shanghai, where people have long coexisted with mermaids, and Stefan, a humble engineer at a shipbuilding company, dreams of literally saving the ocean. But his measured life collapses at the moment when the princess of the underwater kingdom of Chao suddenly bursts into his apartment and offers to marry her.

Then chaos begins: giant robots, fireworks, awkward dates, and the hero's attempts to figure out how to live next to a creature that sincerely loves him, but exists as if according to the laws of another world. "Ciao" is Yasuhiro Aoki's feature film debut, and the film itself has been in the making for almost seven years.