The Russian movie industry has a history of sporadically producing thought-provoking sci-fi movies. Tarkovsky's SOLARIS (1972) and STALKER (1979) being notable genre classics.
Now we have SPUTNIK, a 2020 movie set in the former Soviet Union of 1983. And its not half-bad.
The plot is a re-tread of Nigel Kneale's seminal 1953 British T.V. serial THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT and later 1955 Hammer movie version THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT. In both serial and film, a space mission (British) goes horribly wrong when only one of the three astronauts returns to earth. He is one sick puppy, having been infected by an alien invader and gradually evolves into a murderous monster that must be destroyed.
Sputnik-1 was the name given to the first artificial Earth satellite launched into orbit by the Soviet Union in 1957. Sputnik roughly translates into English as "attendant," "companion," "travelling companion" or "fellow traveller".
In SPUTNIK (the movie) something bad happens on a two-man space mission, and upon returning to earth there is only one survivor. He is one sick puppy, having been infected by an alien invader and gradually evolves into a murderous monster that must be destroyed. This time the alien invader can shrink itself down to live inside the astronaut, emerging when he sleeps to feed on cortisol drenched human brains. The astronaut is being held under armed guard at a military installation in Soviet controlled Kazakhstan, where the Colonel in charge recruits a female psychiatrist with an unorthodox approach to help in separating the alien from the man. His objective is to weaponise the alien - now where have we heard that before?
Probably goes without saying, it does not end well.
This film wears its influences prominently on its sleeve. Mostly, Quatermass and the Alien franchise. That said, if you can get past the feelings of déjà vu - and they do leave weighty impressions, unfortunately - there is a fair degree to enjoy. Gorehounds are well-served with juicy blood splatter and bone crunching sound effects when the alien chows down. And the creature itself is pleasingly rendered in all its slimy, slithering semi-translucent glory, complete with high-pitched scream before it attacks.
Performances are adequate, but personally I found I did not relate to or care about any of the characters in any significant way. Konstantin, the astronaut, does not seem all that tormented or concerned about his plight as such - more focussed on escaping to retrieve the son he abandoned to an orphanage. Quite how the kid would respond to being rescued by a father who has an unbreakable symbiotic relationship with a brain-eating alien doesn't appear to be an issue for consideration. Tatyana (the psychiatrist) suspects that if separated for any length of time, both host and alien will die, yet still perseveres in a faintly hare-brained way, and Semirov (the colonel in charge) is little more than a by-the-numbers military villain of the piece - cold, cruel and emotionally blank.
It is a bleak little fable, well-made, nicely shot, with a lean and spartan feel to it. Fans of the genre could do worse. A lot worse. Just don't expect a classic.
Now we have SPUTNIK, a 2020 movie set in the former Soviet Union of 1983. And its not half-bad.
The plot is a re-tread of Nigel Kneale's seminal 1953 British T.V. serial THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT and later 1955 Hammer movie version THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT. In both serial and film, a space mission (British) goes horribly wrong when only one of the three astronauts returns to earth. He is one sick puppy, having been infected by an alien invader and gradually evolves into a murderous monster that must be destroyed.
Sputnik-1 was the name given to the first artificial Earth satellite launched into orbit by the Soviet Union in 1957. Sputnik roughly translates into English as "attendant," "companion," "travelling companion" or "fellow traveller".
In SPUTNIK (the movie) something bad happens on a two-man space mission, and upon returning to earth there is only one survivor. He is one sick puppy, having been infected by an alien invader and gradually evolves into a murderous monster that must be destroyed. This time the alien invader can shrink itself down to live inside the astronaut, emerging when he sleeps to feed on cortisol drenched human brains. The astronaut is being held under armed guard at a military installation in Soviet controlled Kazakhstan, where the Colonel in charge recruits a female psychiatrist with an unorthodox approach to help in separating the alien from the man. His objective is to weaponise the alien - now where have we heard that before?
Probably goes without saying, it does not end well.
This film wears its influences prominently on its sleeve. Mostly, Quatermass and the Alien franchise. That said, if you can get past the feelings of déjà vu - and they do leave weighty impressions, unfortunately - there is a fair degree to enjoy. Gorehounds are well-served with juicy blood splatter and bone crunching sound effects when the alien chows down. And the creature itself is pleasingly rendered in all its slimy, slithering semi-translucent glory, complete with high-pitched scream before it attacks.
Performances are adequate, but personally I found I did not relate to or care about any of the characters in any significant way. Konstantin, the astronaut, does not seem all that tormented or concerned about his plight as such - more focussed on escaping to retrieve the son he abandoned to an orphanage. Quite how the kid would respond to being rescued by a father who has an unbreakable symbiotic relationship with a brain-eating alien doesn't appear to be an issue for consideration. Tatyana (the psychiatrist) suspects that if separated for any length of time, both host and alien will die, yet still perseveres in a faintly hare-brained way, and Semirov (the colonel in charge) is little more than a by-the-numbers military villain of the piece - cold, cruel and emotionally blank.
It is a bleak little fable, well-made, nicely shot, with a lean and spartan feel to it. Fans of the genre could do worse. A lot worse. Just don't expect a classic.