Russian science fiction with a strange creature inspired by American films but claiming its own identity

Russian film productions may surprise you if you take the time to discover them. There is no real market in Italy for Russian films, unless they get special honors at international festivals and eventually graduate, but they will still be films with as high artistic value as the films Andrey Zvyagintsev (backAnd LeviathanAnd without love), from Alexander Sokurov (Russian coffinAnd FaustAnd Alexandra) Or, going back a bit, about the greats Nikita Mikhalkov (The Barber of SevilleAnd deceivers of the sunAnd Ossie Courney). Nor are we interested in this quick article, if we do not mention it faithfully to the legacy of the history of Soviet cinema, Andrei Tarkovsky.

But what we are talking about here is commercial cinema, about purely entertainment films that are also being produced in Russia with surprising results. There is no shortage of money when it comes to making a blockbuster movie and you can see it very well in the sci-fi genre that has been going on for several years now. Among the many Russian science fiction titlesThere is one called Sputnik. Reference does not just go to The first satellite From the history of astronauts sent into space in 1957. Sputnik It’s also the Russian word for literally “Travel Companion”. An unexpected guest, in the first act of the film’s history, boards the space shuttle upon its return to Moscow.

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Sputnik: The plot of a Russian sci-fi / horror movie

The events of the film take place during the flood period cold War, when the geopolitical boundaries were those ofSoviet Union. There are some astronauts in orbit and operations are being monitored from the space center which appears to be going according to plan. But something goes wrong and surviving after returning to Earth is just an astronaut. The man is confused and does not remember what happened at the orbital station. Colleagues are unable to determine an acceptable level of her health or issue a diagnosis and go to a doctor, a psychiatrist who should Assess their mental state. It doesn’t take long for a woman to realize that the problem isn’t just about her psyche.

Sputnik It is a sci-fi thriller tinged with horror and obviously inspired byalien from Ridley Scott, with the difference that the space creature is not on board a spacecraft, but rather inside the space center on Earth. In Russia, special effects craftsmen do not have much experience, so the director Igor Abramenko She chose to entrust her hero to curating digital artists who created him entirely in computer graphics. With Sputnik We’re not quite up to the greatness of American cinema that has set the standards for movie entertainment in many countries, but it’s a laudable feat with alternative horror and out of the usual stars and stripes. under the Sputnik trailer In the original language with English subtitles.