Pobochnyi effekt (2020)

Pobochnyi effekt (2020). Pobochnyi effekt: Directed by Aleksey Kazakov. With Semyon Serzin, Marina Vasileva, Aleksandra Revenko, Anatoliy Zhuravlyov. Once robbers break into the measured and happy life of an architect and his wife. Now Andrey’s only dream is to erase that nightmare from Olya’s memory. Desperate searches for a solution lead him to an eerie apartment in the House on the Embankment to the mysterious Mara, who promises a “special” medicine.

“Taking a peak at the details for the films in the line-up after buying a pass for the online Grimmfest film festival, the description of this being a Russian Horror inspired by the supernatural movies of 1970u0026#39;s Italian cinema made the title sound very enticing,leading to me excitingly running to meet Mara.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNote:Review contains some plot details.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eView on the film:u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGreeting Mara with a crash-zoom, writer/ debut director Aleksey Kazakov u0026amp; cinematographer Evgeny Kozlov conjure up a dazzling, ultra-stylised surreal Horror atmosphere of rapid-fire zoom-ins and arcs, elegant tracking shots,and blossoming dissolves over Olga coming under Marau0026#39;s spell.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWiping away the traumatic memory from Olga, Kazakov paints the blanc canvas with mesmerising, glittering colours,as the candle-wax red, greens and yellow bursts to a over-saturated pulp, reflected the scrambled nature of Olga and Andreyu0026#39;s minds.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTwisting the fairy tale set-up with Andrey (played with a great anxious grit by Semyon Serzin) going to meet witch Mara in order to cure Olga, the screenplay by Kazakov makes the cure worse than the disease, with a tasty dream-logic meltdown of Andrey questioning everything he sees from the corner of his eyes,as the grief he and Olga suffered,casts a spell on the original grief that has haunted Mara.”