PEOPLETALK columnist and film critic Artem Remizov says why Russian directors are mass filming fairy tales again

We all grew up reading fairy tales, and for obvious reasons, the characters and their adventures seem almost familiar to us. However, as we get older, interest in these naturally disappears or turns into a love of fantasy. Every country has its own culture and folklore, and these stories remain a goldmine for directors because from time to time everyone likes to be free from the burden of responsibility and just be a kid.

Why are Russian directors mass filming fairy tales again? What is the reason for the high box office – the departure of the elders, nostalgia or other factors? What is the phenomenon of success of “Cheburashka”?

We asked The Fashion Vibes columnist, film critic and author of the Telegram channel “Remizorro” Artem Remizov to answer these questions, who every month highlights the most exciting events in the global film industry and also shares new movies that you will definitely be saving in the “Must” section . To see”.

Artem Remizov, film critic

One day, Ivan the Fool, Little Humpbacked Horse and Baba Yaga come to the film studio and the producer tells them this…

Russian film distribution has gone through a lot of not-so-good things in the last three years. The major Hollywood studios left, taking with them their major productions, both blockbusters and original films. The subjects on which movies and TV series can be made have changed a lot. But one thing has remained constant: film adaptations of fairy tales. Long-term construction projects that everyone has been waiting for, movies we’d rather never see, unexpected hits and complete box office failures. Our fairy-tale folklore continues to take a large share in the Russian film market. From where? Now let’s try to understand.

When it comes to film adaptations of fairy tales, you can often hear the following comment: “Well, what else can we do now when we can’t bring anything to the cinema?” But actually, before Hollywood gave up, they started turning to our folklore. “The Last Bogatyr”, released in 2017, became a kind of catalyst for the love of our classical heroes and that environment painted with modern Khokhloma. And the box office of Dmitry Dyachenko’s film of 1.7 billion rubles showed that our audience is very interested in all this. Then “Slave” appeared, which not only helped Klim Shipenko fly into space, but also confirmed the viewer’s desire to watch such a film with the whole family. Well, then it started, and we’ve seen about 10 major fairytale movies since 2019 (not counting the animated “Bogatyrs” and others), and most of them were released in the last four years.

This is understandable, lately the demand for something light and childish has increased, and trips to the cinema with the family have become a tradition for many. People want to disconnect from the world around them and feel like a kid again. After all, children do not decide anything, do not worry about anything and live their joyful lives, for which every day is like a new journey to distant lands. But unfortunately sometimes quantity far outweighs quality.

I remember Alexei Nazhny’s “Bremen Town Musicians”, who fascinated me with their creepy make-up and weak song arrangements. Although it seems that the songs from the cult cartoon are still widely heard: they are sung in bars, in karaoke and on the street when returning home from a noisy party at 6 am on a Saturday. So it is not difficult to evaluate the cult burden, which means it is possible to do everything respectfully. But unfortunately the result is a miserable movie with forgettable songs that collected 3 billion. Although such claims may not sound appropriate for a movie with an age limit of 6+, we are essentially talking about a work of art.

The audience’s response to the genre is truly overwhelming. “Cheburashka” alone has a value – 7 billion rubles and a leading status that has not been achieved throughout the history of distribution of all other films (our closest follower is the sequel “Slave” with 4 billion). Most likely the truth is that these pictures tell about common heroes that follow us throughout our lives. When they were children, books were read to them and cartoons were shown to them. When we are young, we meet them all over the world, and as adults we tell our children about these heroes ourselves. Seeing such a character, the viewer automatically draws a fairly safe picture in his head and, of course, goes to where there is something familiar. Anxiety is one of the most important problems of modern man, and a fairy tale is the best cure for it. Even if it’s temporary.

And on the one hand, this is good. Our industry needs such large projects to support the functioning of cinemas with income support, to practice creating beautiful, solid pictures with shameless graphics that will not turn into sad memes, but can surprise and awaken faith in miracles. Fabulous worlds on the background of tall buildings. For example, “The Wizard of the Emerald City” comes out on January 1. Judging by the trailer, it is the film “Yellow Brick Road” by Igor Voloshin that will try to cope with this task and show how to properly spend the money allocated for production. Isn’t this a teleportation to a world where anything is possible, even a hurricane that can wash away all difficulties?

On the other hand, the dominance of fairy tale content may indicate a stagnation. By taking on a film whose foundation was established years ago, we are depriving our industry of creating something new and, most importantly, unique. And it’s not about stopping doing it anymore, no. Instead, try to distribute resources a little more equally and give financial opportunity to other projects created from scratch. We also shot many fairy tales in Soviet times, but the number of original films of different genres was no less than them. And now we have, although not a fairy tale, but sometimes beyond the pale, a comedy with banal jokes starring Nagiyev or Priluchny. And okay, if all this is done with soul, with a big, deep message. But most often these are recognizable characters who say ordinary things that every parent would explain to their children without him.

We always have questions about our original blockbuster movies, especially their scripts. Bondarchuk’s “Charm” alone is worth it. But this does not mean that we should completely forget about experiments and new stories and leave everything in the hands of Baba Yaga. Such problems are not solved by the command of a pike, but with the help of bumps accumulated during production. You should not just look for easy ways, you should leave the difficulties aside. Then the scenarios will be full of adventure, the actors will be more cheerful in the frame, and the picture will be magnificent. And you will not need to delete third-party movies for the sake of one movie, because the movie will come out in high quality and the viewer will make a choice in his favor. And not because he was pushed to a corner of the cinema, but because he wanted it.