"Durov" without Durov. New documentary tells about everything except the main character
Miscellaneous / / April 27, 2021
Looking at the acquaintances and colleagues of the founder of VKontakte instead of him is rather boring.
On April 24, the Kion online cinema released the documentary Durov, which tells about the creator of VKontakte and Telegram. On the same day, the film premiered at the 43rd Moscow International Film Festival. Filmed "Durov" Rodion Chepel - far from a beginner in non-fiction films.
For example, Chepel is the author of the documentary investigation “Leaves. A New Look". Rodion, according to him"Is he a tyrant and dictator or the libertarian hero he wants to be?", has long watched the founder of VKontakte, who always seemed to him an obvious hero for a documentary.
The authors, in general, do not hide: "Durov" is a film in which there is literally no hero. Pavel, for whom, in fact, everything was started, appears in the frame only in archival videos. The rest of the time, former colleagues, business partners, teachers and even - and this is most surprising - the director himself speak for him. The creator immediately explains this move by the fact that none of the interviewees wanted to answer the questions sincerely.
At first, this is captivating, especially since in the first third of the film, Chepel really tries to analyze Durov's personality. An impressive profile is being collected on the "Russian Zuckerberg": how he studied at the gymnasium at St. Petersburg State University, where he then entered the Faculty of Philology, how else in his youth he was distinguished by a painful attitude to privacy, loved the "Matrix" and therefore wanted to be like Neo, which would later be manifested in the style clothes.
Whether the director wanted it or not, the stories of classmates, acquaintances and subordinates are gradually taking shape sociopath and a tyrant. One gets the feeling that Rodion got a hero not from the pleasant one. Nevertheless, I am glad that the creators at least tried to convey how the character and characteristics of Durov were formed and where they come from. It's really interesting to watch the investigation at this stage.
But then the film goes towards the war between Durov and the owner of Amedia, Alexander Akopov. The authors are trying to figure out why users were ready for real action, including actions and rallies, for the sake of the Telegram messenger. At the same time, neither Pavel's relatives nor close friends will appear in the frame - with the exception of the former top manager of VKontakte, Ilya Perekopsky. The latter has not given an interview in years, so his appearance here is presented as an incredible luck.
True, in fact, the statements of Perekopsky do not add anything of value. Commenting on one of the most controversial moments in the existence of "VKontakte" - the story with scattering five thousandth bills from the House of Singer, Ilya simply says that it was a joke in half with experiment. But exactly how this reveals Paul's personality is not very clear.
The problem with the painting is that it bounces to the top. The author introduces the alleged common-law wife of Durov into the narrative and immediately discards this topic. He begins a detailed story about the closure of the TON blockchain project and hints that the "Russian Zuckerberg" was not going to fulfill the promises made to investors, but on this note he immediately fell silent.
At the beginning of the film, Durov's teacher Georgy Mednikov mentions how he once admitted at school that he wants to be an “Internet totem”. And the whole film Chepel seems to be trying to figure out what is hidden behind these words. The trouble is that the director, it seems, did not manage to understand his hero. Therefore, the feelings after viewing remain mixed.
As for the directorial style, there is nothing to say about this in general. The picture is made at the level of a high-quality video from YouTube. And the founder of VKontakte is portrayed by an anonymous person in a hood, sitting at a laptop, like the hero of Rami Malek inMister Robot». And closer to the finale, it even slightly amuses.
Fans of Pavel are unlikely to learn something new about their idol from the picture, and those who in passing heard about airplanes from money and hoped to learn more will be simply disappointed. On the other hand, the film will suit those viewers who have no idea about the creator of Telegram at all and would like to start somewhere.
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