Like peeling

“Eggs of Destiny” was released on Moscow screens

The creators of the sketch committee “Our Russia”, producer Garik Martirosyan and the authors of the script led by Semyon Slepakov, shot a full-length film, the main characters of which were Ravshan and Dzhumshud, guest workers, and their foreman Lenya (the “blue” worker Ivan, who is still completely unnecessary for the plot, runs through ). The authors did not introduce the rest of the characters from their humorous series, which has been on the TNT channel since 2007, into the film. That is, they were present in the script, and even the scenes with their participation were filmed and, according to director Gleb Orlov, they seemed successful and funny, but they were still sacrificed for the sake of the integrity of the narrative. Because the film “Eggs of Destiny” was not conceived as a repetition of successful episodes of the series, but as an independent and integral work, having its own complete plot, with a plot and, what is important for its authors, a denouement. Not like in “The Best Movies” (1 and 2), which were made by completely different people.

The authors of “Eggs” wanted it to be not only funny, but also meaningful. The plot is as follows: one very rich man hires a team to clean up his apartment, which was somewhat scratched by the shooting of a group of guests by his devoted bodyguard Bison. The contract for repairs went to foreman Lena, he called his subordinates from sunny Nubarashen, and they arrived in a suitcase along the luggage conveyor... And the oligarch had just left - he went to a fortune teller to find out why there was no happiness in life. And Leni has a wedding, and we need to book a restaurant. And at this time, Ravshan and Dzhumshud accidentally destroyed the apartment and found a secret - golden eggs in which the oligarch's luck lies, but they did not know what it was, because they took them without looking... And they ran to save their beloved boss, whom , as they thought, they took him to Sklifosovsky, while in fact Lenya was completely healthy, and he had to chase them all over Moscow, and as a result ended up in Sklifosovsky, but they failed to meet there, but the oligarch found out who stole the eggs and also joined in the pursuit...

You need to be careful with a plot of this kind - it barely holds together, and when retold, it begins to become completely askew and crumble, like the apartments renovated by Ravshan and Dzhumshud. Moreover, it was filmed and invented, as usually happens with us, on a living thread: the script changed literally until the last day of shooting or even until the last day of editing. And in fact, why some episodes and characters were left in the film, while others were thrown out, is also inexplicable; the plot is moving, but what motivates it, other than the will of the authors, remains unclear.

The inexplicable and truly manic love of migrant workers for their boss, combined with the extreme degree of their idiocy, should, according to the authors, create the ground for an infinite number of comic situations from which the heroes will be rescued by spontaneous luck and radiant kindness. However, this turned out to be insufficient to truly humanize Ravshan and Dzhumshud, to give them some volume. The characters of the episode inevitably come out brighter and funnier, they have both topicality and elements of satire... It turned out to be a kind of mess from an axe, the characters in this film invented to decorate the main story are more funny and exciting. Honestly, Alexander Semchev (Bison), Viktor Verzhbitsky (the main villain, which is understandable), Roman Madyanov (another oligarch) and other actors invited to shoot the film work more convincingly and charmingly than its main characters. For which not only nothing new has been invented, but their old devices have been reduced to a minimum. It is clear that Ravshan and Dzhumshud have reached such a degree of popularity that they have already become a kind of folklore, that is, now they should not look like guest workers, but guest workers should look like them, but if in principle there is enough linguistic parody in the sketches, then the film already needs that something else, some kind of character, image or type at worst. But this is not the case - neither Mikhail Galustyan, nor Valery Magdyash, nor even Sergei Svetlakov, under the leadership of debutant director Gleb Orlov, acquired plastic, psychological or social characteristics. That's why it gets boring. After all, it is the heroes who must move the plot, and as a result, it moves under its own weight, towards an inevitable and quick outcome.

But it's not unpleasant to watch the film. There is nothing vulgar or dishonest about it. Everyone tried. Another thing is that modern comedies, constructed from successful TV projects, are doomed to fragmentation and extraordinary lightness of thought, the material is like that. In “Eggs of Destiny,” despite all the efforts aimed at creating a coherent, albeit frankly implausible, story, in one scene Ravshan throws himself with a knife on a talking chair to kill an evil spirit, and in another, Dreiser’s novel falls out of his suitcase, and The scriptwriters easily get away with this discrepancy, because they do not have a hero, Ravshan, but have a very conventional sign that can easily be used to replace anyone. As in the episode about the masquerade banquet at the almighty millionaire, where the names Posner and Tsekalo become a pass for our guest workers, because no one asks the question what Posner and Tsekalo really are, the name is enough. By the way, in the same episode a real Basque takes part in the role of himself, completely indistinguishable from Basque as such, but a nature, so to speak. A parody of today's life is very different from life itself - everything has already been brought to the point of absurdity. What is intended to be funny becomes funny, jokes are habitually repeated, as if giving a sign: here to laugh , but the audience is quite happy and does not demand more. What exactly is being ridiculed in this comedy, what we are laughing at, is not an idle question, but has long been considered something indecent.

Actually, the funniest and most successful thing in the film is self-irony. Here the authors seem to be trying to anticipate the reaction of some part of the public. Here you feel that the topic is close and exciting. Otherwise, the weight turned out to be too light - disposable... Which, however, may not contradict the goals of the creators. Some of them said that they would not be upset if the audience, upon leaving the hall, immediately forgot what they were watching.

In old classic comedies, for example, by Gaidai, who was also criticized for his lightness in his time, the stable and understandable Soviet world was subjected to comedic ridicule, repeatedly shown in serious cinema, where, in essence, all the accents were already set, even a schoolchild knew who who is good and who is evil, what is right and honest, and what is criminal and punishable. Today, our picture of the world does not imply general coordinates - yes, we are all stuck in traffic jams, faced with fortune tellers and doctors who need to get a hangover and not operate, we make repairs with the help of our foreign friends and give bribes to traffic cops, but these are only private signs of our life , its separate, not brought together external features. No one succeeds in seeing a real portrait of modernity, from which one can later make a caricature.

Therefore, you can still tell a joke, and even then it is immediately forgotten, but, alas, it is not possible to create a real comedy. And this is not the problem of the authors of “Our Rashi,” but of our entire Rashi, its culture, its priorities and values, which have still not been artistically comprehended.

Alena Solntseva