"Whirlpool" from "KinoPoisk HD" is not like other TV series about the police. And this is good
Educational Program Cinema / / December 29, 2020
But the streaming service "KinoPoisk HD" started another own series of the platform. The authors declared the crime thriller Whirlpool as the Russian analogue of the legendary True Detective. But in reality, the project turned out to be completely different both in terms of video and topics.
During the seizure of a drug den, investigators find a flash drive on which the ritual murder of a girl is recorded by a certain huge man in a raincoat. Investigating this case, they descend into an abandoned sewer, where they find many dead teenagers that no one is looking for.
Grotesque heroes and neon lights
Literally from the very first shots, it is striking that the viewer is not shown a typical Russia, but rather some kind of fictional world. The authors do not even say in which city the action takes place. And the main characters are altogether similar to comic book characters or American action films, rather than typical Russian police officers.
Vladimir Vdovichenkov in the image of the stern but fair Krasnov, as always, is meaningfully and gloomily silent - he was clearly entrusted to act out the image from “
A real detective». Vladislav Abashin, aka Kirill, suddenly turns out to be the main expert on occultism and religions. He got all the most mystical lines, which goes well with the deep voice of the actor.Aristarchus Venes, who plays the youngest and most emotional in Mark's team, is responsible for emotions: he cries, swears a lot, cuts through the streets on a cool motorcycle and carries a pistol in his back pocket jeans.
The rest of the policemen live in well-furnished apartments, drive an expensive car, drink whiskey in a clean and bright office right during the service.
Those who want to see in "Whirlpool" at least some hint of the real work of the Russian police will be disappointed at the fifth minute. But surely there are many viewers who are already tired of the endless "Cops" and "Deadly Force". Such a comic video sequence allows you to perceive the series as a work of art, and not just another attempt to film the gray everyday life that everyone can see outside the window.
Unfortunately, the authors go too far in some moments, and in others they do not work out enough. Some of the main problems of Russian TV series have not disappeared anywhere: secondary characters and background setting. If the main characters can overact a little, but still cope with their roles, then it is simply painful to watch the crowd scene, boringly practicing their actions. And the habitable premises are not given to decorators at all: everywhere you can feel the cold pavilion.
But in general, the video sequence turned out to be very good. You can already completely forget about boring filming in three locations. "Whirlpool" pleases with the camera spans over the city, and general plans, and many different rooms.
But the neon lights could be made in less than three times. Even in the previous advertised series "Hope" they annoyed with their obsession. The whirlpool floods everything with this light, as if trying to prove its modernity and youthfulness. Alas, this causes exactly the opposite sensations.
Cruelty and sociality
It's no secret that authors can afford much more on streaming services than in movies, and even more so on television. Whirlpool makes the most of this format. And it's not even about cruelty, swearing and naked bodies, although this is enough in the series.
Interestingly, Kinopoisk HD offers a choice of two audio tracks: with and without censorship. Indeed, someone may be embarrassed by the abuse in a project where in the first minutes a naked girl is killed with a knife?
But all these are just games of provocation, which, with the existing HBO hardly anyone will be hooked. But what "Whirlpool" really amazes with is the abundance of ambiguous social statements.
Just look at the main characters. Krasnov's wife is dying of cancer, and he is having an affair with a colleague. The new girlfriend is fighting back with all her might from his uninvited male protection. Mark is a former drug addict who goes to meetings. And these are the most positive characters.
What about a disgusting drug pimp dealing in minors? It turns out that such a person can have a disabled mother, whom he cares about touchingly.
But they speak hardest about dysfunctional families and domestic violence. In this topic, the heroine, nicknamed the Fly (Alena Mikhailova), is revealed. It is unlikely that many on-air TV channels will dare to show in the series how the stepfather rudely solicits his stepdaughter. And this is not the first time this happens with the complete connivance of others. And in the background is the song "Be quiet" by the group "Kis-Kis" - a manifesto of problems that are so fond of being hushed up in our society.
At this moment, the shiny comic book wrapper breaks with a bang, revealing our reality. Most recently, the court acquitted"He just freaked out": in Tatarstan, the court acquitted a man who was accused of abusing his one and a half year old daughter a man who raped his own one and a half year old daughter. And this with regular real terms"I will kill you now, bitch." Most women convicted of murder defended themselves against domestic violence girls for self-defense and decriminalizing the article on domestic violence.
Through the lips of the same Mark, the viewer is told about the bullying of parents in families, about children who use drugs, because they have not seen anything else in their life.
Against the background of the caution of most films and TV series, which so love to concentrate evil in one maniac, "Whirlpool" surprises with its frankness. It turns out that the main problem is not the terrible occultist. He can do his atrocities only because no one is looking for hundreds of teenagers.
This is all a fictional world. But it's hard not to remember that the number of real street children in our country is growingThe number of street and neglected children is growing in Russia from year to year. And the gallant policeman who caught the maniac will save some of them from death. But from the street and drug addiction - hardly.
Of course, the authors really lack the subtlety of elaboration. Most of the ideas are stated head-on, without any artistry. Few people now dare to say directly from the screen that religion has very little to do with God, and "the feelings of true believers cannot be offend."
Although the posterity of such statements is often annoying, the courage of "Maelstrom" deserves praise: it is better to talk about sensitive topics deliberately and through grotesque heroes than to be silent at all.
Russian serials are moving further and further away from typical on-air projects like "Cops". Both skill and budgets will gradually grow. And then, probably, someone will be able to create their own "True Detective". In the meantime, it remains to look for the truth in neon lamps. I am glad that she is there.
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