“Marconi Today”
As Vladimir Marconi himself joked about the project, the series looked like a social satire when it was created a year ago, but in 2022 it suddenly became a documentary. At the center of the plot is SNT, where summer residents protect themselves and their property from local authorities. An innovative local resident (copied simultaneously from Elon Musk and Pavel Durov) comes up with a “unique” device – a latch, from which popular unrest grows and multiplies.
The project format was tested by Marconi in the entertaining Comment Out Show, where ad integrations were invented on a similar principle. In ad format, these stories looked funny, but not anymore. What will happen to the show when the full season comes out – time will tell. However, this lack of ambition of the plot while working in the realm of contemporary reality is fascinating because she perfectly understands what she wants to be when the project grows.
“Four”
Fear from Irina Dorosh, which was noted during her participation in the TV-3 accelerator. In the center of the plot – three teenagers (one of the roles is played by the star of “Out of Season” Igor Ivanov) climb a dilapidated high-rise building with a notorious reputation. Allegedly, the building is cursed and the concentration of evil is the fourth floor, which cannot be reached by elevator (the required button is simply missing). The friends decide to personally check out the folk horror story and take two elevators to the roof. Not everyone can go there and come back, or rather, they don’t all come back from this journey on their own.
The story has great potential, the genre being handled with the same passion as American Horror Story or Netflix’s latest hit Archive 81. The authors state that all 8 episodes of the series have already been written.
“Gestalt”
“Kadetstvo” and “Fizruk” is the directorial debut of the star of Artur Sopelnik. The main characters of the series are teenagers from different class worlds. She is the daughter of wealthy parents, a student of the Sunday parish school (in the role of Dmitry Shevchenko, the father of the hero, who was unfairly removed). A tyrant from a poor family who keeps the entire region in fear. Relationships between young protagonists develop rapidly: from joint night-time cruises and heart-to-heart talks without the supervision of warring adults, to a collective fight in which children and their parents clash their foreheads and fists.
“Gestalt” deserved at least an award in the acting category – the young actress Kapitolina Sobol, who played the main role, attracts attention and has good potential. The project itself is one of those raw practices that doesn’t matter when choosing artistic solutions with a sense of structure and proportion, but with an impulse and an interesting story in it. I’d love to see Sopelnik’s debut in a remake with improved dialogue and plot, but always with the same actors and the same director’s strife.
“Especially Big”
New work from the creators of the “Law and Disorder” web series. In the center of the plot – police associates, chasing the usurer. In the best traditions of Tarantino’s dialogues, the protagonists, while waiting for the suspect, manage to reveal the essence of existence in simple words. In the second part of the pilot episode, when the police start chasing the moneylender, a dynamic enters the plot and an unexpected surprise awaits them. And then Tarantino’s style is inferior to Bykov’s social drama, which is reflected even in the style of the frame.
Given the nationality of Yuri Bykov, we can safely say that “Especially Big” could steal the hearts of the audience. The Realist Web Fest script award testifies in favor of this version.
“Multirature”
A rare animated image still in development for this year’s show. The application video is made in the style of Gravity Falls, which successfully borrows the local sarcastic tone. With obvious external comparisons with strong representatives of the genre, a few minutes were enough to think about a strong story in “Multiratura”, the fate of which I wanted to follow.
Perhaps the cartoon will become a kind of version of “Masyanya” for the audience, or maybe it will stop playing guessing games and turn into an independent original project that others will look at.
“Tile”
Tarantino’s urban noir about Grigory Cherepitsa, a tireless fighter for justice, and his faithful companion (Anton Vokhmin, who received the festival prize for this role). The modernized Don Quixote and Sancho Panso seem to have escaped Guy Ritchie’s world of bullshit and masculinity. The mention of both Tarantino and Richie, of course, points to the oversaturation of “Tiles” with recognizable clichés of the genre, but the pilot himself is so gleefully and hilariously drawn that it’s impossible to tear yourself away from him.
The situation when the heroes of the story are so bright and you worry more about their relationship than yourself. Moreover, the project looks like a potential competitor to Major Grom – he just wants a comic book page.
“Friend zone”
The main nomination is the winner of the Realist Web Fest. In the series, all 8 episodes are available on YouTube, the main character is a student with the appearance of the star of “Euphoria”, Jacob Elordi, who chooses an unscientific topic for his term paper that explores the concept of “friend zone”. The story, born of special unrequited love, turns into a common pain point – you need to take a closer look to understand that not only the hero, but his entire environment suffers from unrequited feelings.
Friendzone winks at Euphoria in a few episodes, partially borrowing its form, but not its content – the project seems like a solid, original story you want to finish.
“Social network”
A techno-drama about a successful girl who becomes a hostage to artificial intelligence with Lyubov Aksenova. Under the tight watch of AI, heroine Aksenova reaches the peak of her career and prepares to buy her own luxury residence. But approaching the life of her dreams, she has to sacrifice her own freedom – computer superintelligence subjugates the life of the stewardess, deciding what is good and bad for her personally.
The pilot of the series is also very fresh”LucyWith Danila Kozlovsky” is also a compilation of “Black Mirror” and “She” by Spike Jones, who does not want to scold him for this similarity. The world is getting more technological every year, and it’s clear that filmmakers will continue to explore the phenomenon of combining human and computer.
But for all the curiosity of the plot, it is not entirely clear where Social Networks could potentially develop further: the main character understands his “enemy” even in the pilot. Perhaps the project will become an anthology with a vertical structure, where each new series will tell about the next dangers that await us on the other side of the screen.
“Cool Lonely Calf”
The most touching participant of the festival, Yura, in which the main character (who is also the author of the project) is, recalls that 20 years ago he published an advertisement for an acquaintance in the magazine Cool. She also received dozens of unanswered letters from all over the country, she. After all these years, Yura decides to find the authors of the most interesting letters, meet them in person and talk heart to heart. The intended effect of this sudden outburst from the past is unstable: girls caught off guard are often shy, confused, embarrassed, but in no hurry to get nostalgic in front of the camera with their souls wide open.
But closer to the finale, the pilot makes a 180-degree turn: Yura changes tactics and is now ready to imitate a TV show in which he was specially invited, for example, to meet another girl, who is a nutritionist. This resourcefulness of the hero is reminiscent of the new show “Rehearsal”. There, comedian Nathan Fielder rehearses the surrounding reality and turns it into a majestic life simulator to help his clients. “The Cool Lonely Bull” also seems to fall within the domain of Kaufman drama, and I really want to see what the final version will be.
“Fool himself-2”
The second season of Anna Zaitseva’s YouTube project is already fully available online, and it is valuable that its sequel retains the charm and warmth of the first episode. This is an inclusive story about sisters Kristina and Masha, one of whom is blind, this does not prevent her from knowing the world and herself in it.
A charming, warm series in its sincerity. Young actresses are beautiful, the world of the project is recognizable, albeit rather simplified. But if you want to give history not just your attention, but a piece of your heart, that says a lot.