Land of Legends (2022) Poster

User Reviews

Review this title
1 Review
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
7/10
This is a breakthrough for Russia
ovvlasenko-9790630 October 2022
"Heart of Parma" is fully imbued with the spirit of historical authenticity, which is rare in our time. Special thanks to Evgeny Mironov for his talented portrayal of the Baptist of Moscow! I really liked the battle scenes. They are well detailed, large-scale, and the dynamics and tension they achieve not due to shaking hands of the operator, which is now fashionable, and thanks to the entourage and sound. The clang of swords, the screams, the roaring of horses, the cannons... It all made for a very convincing battle. Only if it wasn't for the slomo... The acting is at a high level, but I missed the emotion from Alexander Kuznetsov. I understand that here he plays a broken prince with a difficult childhood, but even after all that, he can't just be a "stone", can he? Though I like this actor very much, especially in "The Scythian" film (the image chosen for him in this film is well emphasized by his twice broken nose😂), I would like to see more emotions from Alexander... In the moments of turning girls into animals there was noticeable not the highest quality computer graphics, but for such a Russian film it is forgivable.

The first half of the movie is very sketchy and, in my opinion, not fully developed. A lot of the characters of the first plan are not really revealed, that is why it was difficult to empathize with their misfortunes. I had the impression that the Cinema Fund once again decided to make a TV series, but thinking that it would not make much money, they turned it into a full-length movie and distributed it. It was as if almost everything had been cut. I missed the simple passages of the characters, without the loud, sometimes not even the most appropriate music, I would have liked to see more simple human conversations rather than actions that were replaced in the same second by others. It seemed as if the first part of the movie was made for entertainment and the second part was made to bring out the viewer's emotions. On the technical side, these seemed to be all the moments that I didn't like very much.

Thank you so much for the on location footage, sets and costumes! All this was done qualitatively and thoughtfully, professionally! Nothing to say about the fight scenes and stuntmen. The final battle, though it turned out to be long, but it didn't affect the fact that it was actually spectacular! Very entertaining to watch on both sides. The acting, explosions, and battles are believable! And it's very good! Thank you to the cameraman for his excellent work, for not chasing fashions, because nowadays handheld shots where the camera moves around, otherwise it would spoil the integrity of the picture.

The makeup artists did their best, the makeup of the actors is believable. Blood and scars, little scratches and dirt on their hands. I especially remember that scar on Kuznetsov's cheek😂.

The images of the characters are matched to the type of actors. That is why we saw "Geralt in Russian" and "Merida in a man's disguise".

In conclusion, I would like to say that "The Heart of Parma" is a breakthrough in the Russian film industry, although it has a couple of plot inconsistencies and production flaws. You do not pay attention to these things when you see such a beautiful and high quality picture on the screen.

I liked the movie, and I want to believe that our filmmakers learned how to create beautiful things.
10 out of 15 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed