Cinema pro cinema Having collected a bright ensemble, and perfectly putting everyone in their places, the picture “8 and a half dollars” will immerse in the everyday life of film production and bohemian life of filmmakers. In the center of the plot is a certain Hera Cremov, who always presents herself as a film director, but in fact shoots commercials. Brilliantly played by Ivan Okhlobystin, who is not even immediately recognized in such a role, the hero gets involved in the story between three women, being a very noble lover and even a reveler. And, having finally received a large order - directly shooting a full-length picture, he manages, getting drunk and having fun to the fullest, to lower half the amount literally overnight. Criminal authorities demand the return of finances and the finished film, and Kremov is trying to find his personal happiness.
Built in the manner of the comedy of the absurd, according to the script of Constantinople, Smirnova and Sergey Krylov, playing with genre standards, the film rushes from one extreme to the other. At first, the action is built, as if really a set or mosaic of music video clips: we will be presented and acquaintance with the heroine Potashinskaya through the “Matilda” Presnyakov, and will spend a lot of time on the stage twists of the notorious singer Shura, in the bar plays the Moral Code with the “Sunny Island” of the Time Machine (the composition is also known as “You or I”), and Andrei Makarevich himself will appear in a modest cameo. All this will be accompanied from time to time by an active advertising chewing gum, which is removed by the central character of the picture. But the further, the more saturated the story becomes, the relationship becomes more important than the form, and in the absence of sincerity or expression here you definitely can not blame anyone.
The film managed not only to maintain its relevance, but even to add in this regard. The manner of filming expressed in the film is simply stunning according to the results of many modern domestic filmmakers, showing how any mess is removed, where budget money actually goes and where they generally come from to certain dubious personalities. The film laughs at the very approach to shooting, allowing plenty of irony and the viewer, and the abundance of inserts about chewing gum in our era of cutting eyes product placement at every step of almost any domestic high-profile picture, and will cause understanding and approval of such a banter.
Interestingly, nothing has changed since then. The picture looks very fresh and modern, although it plunges its atmospheric directly into the late nineties, creating even music all the necessary entourage. In general, the musical set of hits you want to praise again and again, here and Chizh, and Zero, and many others, getting their sound design in each scene surprisingly accurately. Casting of the film also pleases talented persons: Menshov, Shainsky, voiced as a result Litvinova heroine Natalia Andreychenko, as well as Igor Vernik, appearing in the Indian crowd Gosha Kutsenko, and very well played both his images Bondarchuk!
The peculiarity of the manner of presentation of the film and its very sharp jumps in genres, from musical to romance, from romance to drama, from drama to crime, and so on, may not be to everyone’s taste, it is painfully specific was the movie. Well, regular fantasies-hallucinations of the protagonist, adding sharpness to what is happening, and at all can cause bewilderment or confuse the plot of what is happening. But nevertheless, there is a very original view of the director’s problem, contrasted with more classical approaches to such a story, and due to the three-dimensional format, all these hallucination scenes played with even more expressive colors!
What's the movie about? It is very much about a lot, starting with the irony over film production - a kind of movie about cinema, and ending with the fact that, of course, about love. Balancing between the comedy of the absurd and harsh criminal showdowns, many ideas that pop up to the surface are not amenable to final disclosure, but the convex characters and brightness of the characters should clearly cause sympathy and audience interest. The film is not for everyone, but definitely with its own zest and charm, can strongly hook or at least allow fun to have time.
“8 and a half dollars” looks very nice in its comedic vein, ridiculing certain aspects of life, from time to time coming out on serious motives. Visually, he is able to please with the heat of passions in relationships, unusual and impressive scenes of sick fantasies of the main character, a share of eroticism and bloody showdowns, and in the end just his heroes, musical accompaniment and very cool star cameos. The picture is definitely worth watching and, for sure, its specificity will attract and gain new fans. It turned out to be a good and extremely peculiar criminal comedy, which looks quite original among domestic empty spaces.
6 out of 10
Original