Hurry up. In 1987, Alekseev Sergey Trofimovich for the novel “Roy” received the prize of the All-Union of Writers of the USSR. And three years later, based on the novel, a two-part film is shot. The project is headed by Vladimir Khotinenko as a director and screenwriter. To adapt a huge artistic work from village prose to film drama help Valery Zalotukha and Violetta Sedov. Did they succeed? - To judge only the viewer. But I, my friends, can’t help feeling that this picture was taken out of deep sympathy for the book and/or its author. This is neither good nor bad, just the idea ("pictures") has not matured, and the concept has not formed.
In recent years, the popularity of the writer Sergey Alekseev is growing, and many of his admirers are eager to see at least one adaptation of his novel on the screens. No one talks about the already made film Roy, and if he does, it is with obvious reluctance (I am afraid that it is not about bad advertising or its absence). There are many reasons for the shortage of film adaptations according to Alexeyev, but the most important thing is the complexity of translating the writer’s literary machines into a simple film language* of the image. If you push all the historical and mystical novels of Alekseev, the only difficulty will remain a large number of storylines and heroes. In the picture Khotinenko is well depicted only “hopeless”, it is made excessive emphasis of toli due to lack of budget, or because of a weak script. It would be enough to beat only the Zavarzin family and not particularly inflamed, then the movie would look easier. Or it was necessary, on the contrary, to stretch everything into a mini-series, so that many plots did not look like references to the original source.
If you do not read the book, the obvious allegory: the human race is like a swarm of bees – it does not ask for itself. The bee struck the tick, and misfortune fell on the Zavarzin family - that's all. The strongest image of the elder living in a world “where the sun may seem like a flame from a candle” is smeared. The stories of the characters are interesting, but the wonderful cast plays great - the film still does not seem alive. The only great find is a scene in which the hero of Boris Galkin looks at a torn goat on a leash, laughs at him and fervently condemns the generation that “cannot work and did not learn to rest!”
Unfortunately, so... I'm afraid I won't really enjoy the movie.
In a good way, of course.
5 out of 10