I would have never even heard of this film (or the book it was inspired of) if not for HBO Go, so thanks for that. I was pleasantly surprised to watch something that felt different than the usual American movies I watch and that had an original idea. However, even if it seems the production values are high, the script and the acting leave a lot to be desired. It's a step up from what I was expecting, though, and I hope the Russian movie industry improves and starts bringing to the public all that rich Slav storytelling that I grew up with. So many great Russian sci-fi writers and so few movies to bring them justice. But enough of that.
The story revolves around a guy who is practically removed from this life, with people who knew him forgetting him and any proof he ever existed updated. Why? So that he is made a border guard between worlds. His job is not only the menial checking and allowing traveler access, but also opening doors to new worlds. Yet by the time we learn of this, the story focuses almost exclusively on his obsession with his former girlfriend and the inane steps the organization he works for takes in order to stop that from developing. So much so that in the end, when he achieves what he had been brought to do in the first place, everything literally crumbles to dust because of this artificial conflict and drama. The story is also open ended, as Cernovik is just the first of a series of books by author Sergei Lukyanenko, same guy who wrote Night Watch and Day Watch, which also got made into high profile Russian movies. Maybe it's better to wait for a Chistovik movie and watch them back to back.
Bottom line: some serious irony there to name your book Rough Draft and a major achievement to be made into a movie. However, the film starts great and ends in a weird chaotic mess. It's like different people made the first and the second halves of the story. Plot holes abound and even the Matryoshka Daleks can't stop the feeling that someone really slacked in the end there.
The story revolves around a guy who is practically removed from this life, with people who knew him forgetting him and any proof he ever existed updated. Why? So that he is made a border guard between worlds. His job is not only the menial checking and allowing traveler access, but also opening doors to new worlds. Yet by the time we learn of this, the story focuses almost exclusively on his obsession with his former girlfriend and the inane steps the organization he works for takes in order to stop that from developing. So much so that in the end, when he achieves what he had been brought to do in the first place, everything literally crumbles to dust because of this artificial conflict and drama. The story is also open ended, as Cernovik is just the first of a series of books by author Sergei Lukyanenko, same guy who wrote Night Watch and Day Watch, which also got made into high profile Russian movies. Maybe it's better to wait for a Chistovik movie and watch them back to back.
Bottom line: some serious irony there to name your book Rough Draft and a major achievement to be made into a movie. However, the film starts great and ends in a weird chaotic mess. It's like different people made the first and the second halves of the story. Plot holes abound and even the Matryoshka Daleks can't stop the feeling that someone really slacked in the end there.