Beautiful and substantive. From the first minutes, the director throws us into a world of cruelty, pretense, chaos and betrayal. For me, this picture is a mixture (both script and visually) of such films as The Thirst for Death (1974) by Michael Winner and Only God Will Forgive (2013) by Nicholas Winding Röfn.
That’s just “I will not forget” to watch much more interesting, because the tape was shot for almost 0 rubles, and in its quality will calmly wipe the nose of most Russian thrillers and fighters. In the picture there are practically no mistakes that, as a rule, beginner authors make. For example, excessive protractedness, empty and unnecessary dialogue, scenes in the style of "Look, I'm a great director, my character eats stones for forty minutes, it's art house." There is no such thing, the narrative is concrete, one scene organically follows from another.
The tape, without ceremony, from the first seconds throws the viewer into the abyss of not the most pleasant and positive events. Yes, someone the first half will seem a little predictable: here is the main character Maxim, got involved in bad company, he is set up, he goes to revenge.
That's just directing, acting, intense music, editing and excellent camera work will not let you take off the screen for a second.
Russian filmmakers often do not focus on the visual component of their film. Thank goodness Ali is not one of them. In I Will Not Forget, the visual is as much a living character as humans. Symmetrical composition of the frame, the rule of 180 degrees, manual shooting, neon light - this is only the tip of the visual iceberg "I will not forget" (and I will remind about the budget, the picture was shot on a SLR camera for 20 thousand rubles).
What about the other half of the tape? I admit, it's quite original. The topic of revenge in this film is not as important as the topic of betrayal. Actors are great, especially when you consider that these are novice guys who do not have an acting education (as far as I know). There is even an action scene. There are not many of them, but they are worthy.
In addition to noir, there are also notes of horror. The scene with the extraction of teeth is one of my favorites (by the way, the first profession of the director is a dentist... I don’t know why I’m writing about this, but come on).
It is amazing how 2 hours of timekeeping fly by in an instant.
Tears are piling up, because many who have considerable funds can not shoot and half as beautiful as it does team Ali. Beautiful and substantive.
For me personally, I won’t forget is a tribute to the classic movies of the 70s. Do you like the films of Martin Scorsese, Takeshi Kitano, Alfred Hitchcock or Nicholas Röfn? This film will surely please you in your heart.