Target (Alexander Zeldovich, 2011): Russia

Reviewed by Laura Lopez. Viewed at the AFI Fest 2011.

Target is a film about the extent of what man will acquire for youth, health, and freedom.  The film revolves around four affluent people who have power and authority but are not content with their affluential lives. A wealthy Russian couple, Victor (Makism Sukhanov) and  Zoe(Justine Waddell),  in the year 2020, lives in the future day of Moscow desperate for avoiding death and achieving full beauty. The muscovite couple relationship is strained, the lack of physical attractiveness the estranged space created has left them mentally and physically detached. The other two characters are a Muscovite solemn patrol Nikolay (Vitaly Kishchenko) that holds authority on the highway and an entertainer Mitya (Danila Kozlovsky) with a diverting personality.  Each individual are living aberrant lives that covet for relief of their lives with wealth.

The technological advances, compared to of our day, have exceeded the obstacles of not aging, yes slowing down death. The four plan a trip to go to the rural country part of Russia to sleep in a radioactive plant; where the radioactivity exposes the body and a reaction that subsumes into the body, eventually slowing aging. Returning from the country, they have rousingly changed, there mentality and their yearning for satisfaction that leave demise consequences.

It was my first film by Alexander Zeldovich and I was intrigued by the subliminal message. It was engaging and surpassed my remedial morals and values. I was never appalled by the many surprisingly tasteful sex scenes dispersed throughout the movie that made it intense between the characters. The beautiful landscape takes my breath away, that sets the innocence and beauty of nature, of life. The light always captured the passion between each face of the fantastic actors who portrayed the fervent affects of youthfulness and freedom.

Many Russian film gears towards sci-fi and the beauty of Russia’s landscapes, magnificent and are a real eye-openers through introspective films. Though it might be long, I highly recommend seeing this film to reflect on the disparity of human’s discrepancies.


About this entry