Sputnik

In the middle of the Cold War, a Soviet spaceship crashes due to damage. Its captain is the only survivor. A renowned psychologist was sent to assess the cosmonaut's mental health, but she realized that he did not return to Earth alone. An entity that has taken possession of the cosmonaut's body and can get out of it has indeed returned with him. If Sputnik, the first film directed and co-written by Egor Abramenko, turns out to be an excellent science fiction film, it is because it puts the action more on the psychology of the characters than on a flood of outrageous special effects and especially approaches the theme of extraterrestrials from a new angle.

While American science-fiction films are numerous and more or less successful, Russian cinema seems to find its place in a world cinema as Sputnik shows it so well. It relies on convincing actors, special effects that have nothing to envy to those of American blockbusters but also approaches science fiction with originality and audacity. Rather rather clever and skillful the scenario sets the film in the 80's in the middle of the period in which the United States and Russia were trying to conquer space.

Director Egor Abramenko is well aware that he can't get a large enough budget to make people forget films like Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) and his attention is therefore focused more on the disturbing atmosphere of the film than on many trying scenes featuring multitudes of special effects. In the same way, the script takes its time before showing the creature and its hold on the cosmonaut Konstantin Veshnyakov (Pyotr Fyodorov). By making credible its characters who will find themselves opposed to a dangerous and uncontrollable creature Sputnik thus denounces the actions of certain military organizations. This film places at the center of the action a psychologist, Tatyana Klimova (Oksana Akinshina), who will not only help the cosmonaut but also oppose his sponsor.

Sputnik shows that science fiction cinema allows us to intelligently tackle different themes such as the existence or not of other lives on other planets and how these can adapt to our world. Far from American films such as Independence Day, which is above all appreciated for its excellent casting and terribly effective special effects, Sputnik intelligently turns to the fantastic thriller in which appearances are deceptive and danger is omnipresent.

Sputnik
Directed by Egor Abramenko
Produced by Mikhail Vrubel, Aleksandr Andryushchenko, Fyodor Bondarchuk, Ilya Stewart, Murad Osmann, Pavel Burya, Vyacheslav Murugov, Alina Tyazhlova, Michael Kitaev, Ilya Jincharadze
Written by Oleg Malovichko, Andrei Zolotarev
Starring Oksana Akinshina, Fyodor Bondarchuk, Pyotr Fyodorov, Anton Vasiliev
Music by Oleg Karpachev
Cinematography: Maxim Zhukov
Edited by Aleksandr Puzyryov, Egor Tarasenko
Production company: Vodorod Pictures, Art Pictures Studio, Hype Film, National Media Group Studio, STS
Distributed by Sony Pictures
Release date: April 23, 2020 (Russia)
Running time: 113 minutes

Viewed on August 14, 2021

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