Mishen (2011)
11KMishen (2011). 2h 38m | Not Rated
“Beautifully shot and set in the most incredible landscapes ever (apparently most of the exteriors were filmed in Mongolia), this is an extraordinary near-future intellectual sci-fi. The sci-fi elements in the film are integrated into the narrative in a fundamental way, as opposed to the effects in movies about the future which are more like robot porn.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHere, everything is understated: There are four main characters who are driven to be more than human, and each one is a microcosm of one segment of Russian society: there is an overachieving Noble-prize level scientist; his frigid Stepford wife; her brother who is a Russian version of Ryan Secrest; and a neo-Nazi type of leader of an organized crime syndicate. This last one is all evil, whereas the others are complicated by their personalities, which range between good and non-good.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThey journey to a distant site in the middle of a vast empty landscape– a circle that seems to be a mile in diameter, in which the center functions as a kind of funnel for all of the energy gathered from the sun and stars. There is a rumor that all of the people in the area have eternal youth, and these four are intrigued enough to spend any amount to find out for themselves.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eInto the mix is thrown a woman who may just be the Russian Secrestu0026#39;s perfect counterpart, and the five of them u0026quot;adoptu0026quot; one woman who appears to be in her 20u0026#39;s, yet is 30 years older. Now the six characters experience what it means to have complete and utter youth and happiness. As you might imagine, it comes with horrifying pitfalls.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere are so many themes in the film that it would be hard to summarize them all, but suffice it to say that the film plays with the idea of a sliding scale of good and evil existing in all people and all things.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd there is yet another important theme, which is that old age, with its wisdom, is way more preferable than the limitations of a life of childish wanton behavior.”
