"Not a movie, but an exhibition of national achievements"

In Russia, the film “Challenge” was released, for which Julia Peresild flew into space. It is advertised through "public services", but to the success of the "Cheburashka" far far away

On April 20, the premiere of Klim Shipenko “Call” took place in Russia. “The first picture shot in space,” as the Russian media called it, long before reaching the screens became a project of national importance - and about a billion rubles were spent on its shooting. “Medusa” tells whether the “call” managed to overtake the “Cheburashka” on the fees in the early days and what film critics think about it.

Before the start of the “Call”, all illegal films disappeared from the cinemas

“Calling” is a large -scale state project. The official synopsis of the film sounds like this:

A thoracic surgeon Zhenya should prepare for a month for a month and go to the ISS to save the astronaut. Will she be able to cope with the tests? Will she be able to overcome uncertainty and fears? Will she manage to carry out the most difficult operation in zero gravity, on which the astronaut’s chances of returning to the ground are alive dependent?

The role of the surgeon of Zhenya was played by Russian actress Julia Peresild. Together with her, Milos Bikovich (“Solder”, “The Telka”), Vladimir Mashkov, as well as the astronauts Anton Kablirov, Oleg Novitsky and Peter Dubrov, who were on board the international space station, starred with her. Some scenes of the film were shot directly on the ISS - for the sake of this, the director Klim Shipenko and Julia Peresild flew into space.

On the eve of the premiere of the Call, which took place on April 20, other popular films that reached the Russian screen stopped showing Russian cinemas, reports the Bulletin of the Films . Although large foreign premieres, with rare exceptions , since the beginning of a full -scale invasion, no longer went out in Russia, some of the films continued to show them unofficially. But from April 20, the “Gray” movie shows temporarily stopped - the paintings “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor among thieves” (Paramount), “Shazam! The rage of the gods ”(Warner Bros., DC),“ Ant-Man and Wasp: Quantomania ”(Marvel” (Marvel) and “Super Mario Brothers” (Universal).

At the beginning of 2018, during the rental of “Movement Up”, the “adventures of Paddington - 2” and the final part of “Running in the Labyrinth” were also shifted . At the end of the same year, the military film “T-34” was released-simultaneously with this, the movie networks moved the “Aquaman” and “Greench”.

The "Call" turned out to be very expensive. But according to the fees, he is far from “Cheburashka” (despite all the advertisement from the authorities)

In the first weekend, after the premiere, the “Call” has shown the best start in the Russian film distribution since the beginning of the year: from April 20 to 23, the film earned more than 423 million rubles. Nevertheless, so far I will “call” far from Cheburashki, which collected 982 million rubles in the first weekend (this family film became the most box office in the history of Russian rental).

The “Film Rail Bulletin” notes : “However, given the large -scale advertising campaign and the widest painting , the expectations from the project were clearly higher.” “Calling” is really extremely actively promoting both the Kremlin and on Russian television, even users of “public services” received an invitation to go to the movie for Shipenko. Channel One reported :

Perhaps, not a single artistic tape had caused such delight among the audience. Real space on the screen really stunes. This was recognized in the West. Oblings of influential newspapers and news agencies that we are again ahead of the entire planet. While in Hollywood they only gathered , Russia did.

And this is a quote from the program "Vesti":

The viewer has the feeling that he is with heroes in orbit and heses himself in zero gravity.

Channel Civil Code of Channel Channel Konstantin Ernst is one of the producers of the picture. Also , Yellow, Black and White, and the Start online cinema, took part in the creation of the Call. Another producer specified in the credits is the former head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin (the picture was supported by this state corporation and the Film Fund).

What is the “call” of the budget is unknown. At the initial stages, the cost of production of the picture was estimated at 905 million rubles. This, according to the producers, was not enough for filming at the Baikonur and post -production cosmodrome, so the filmmakers requested another 250 million from the film. These data do not take into account the related expenses of Roscosmos.

At the same time, Konstantin Ernst on April 17 claimed that the film costs less than a billion rubles: “No one and a half billion. The budget is compiled from the money of the Film Foundation, Channel One and Sponsors . ”

At the premiere, Ernst thanked Rogozin, and Urgant promised to return to Channel One

At the Moscow Prime Minister at the October Cinema, Konstantin Ernst thanked Dmitry Rogozin from the stage, who at the time of filming headed Roscosmos. Rogozin himself did not appear at the event.

We were lucky to take part in this exciting adventure. And now [in the auditorium] there is no only one important person thanks to whom it all happened. He is now on the contact line in the Zaporozhye area - this is Dmitry Olegovich Rogozin.

At the premiere of Call, TV presenter Ivan Urgant suddenly appeared, who on the very first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine spoke out against the war.

His evening show "Evening Urgant" has not been aired for more than a year, but at the premiere of "Call" the TV presenter said that "he would be back to the air of the first." True, there are no details from him or other representatives of the channel yet.

The creators of the Call insist that this is the first film shot in space. Strictly speaking, this is not quite

The marketing campaign “Call” is built on the fact that this is “The first film shot in space”. This statement is even on the main poster, it is constantly repeated in press releases and on Russian television.

Strictly speaking, this is not entirely correct. It would be much more correct to say that the “challenge” is the first full -length feature film, for which filmmakers themselves went into space. And that's why:

• Cosmonauts have already become movie operators. For example, in 1961, the Soviet pilot German Titov, making a 25-hour orbital flight at East 2, shot land, stars and cloud cover on the Convas-Automatic camera. These shootings were then used in documentary films, and personnel appeared in all world media.
• Cosmic shootings are constantly used in documentary films, for example, “For the sake of all of humanity” (1989), “The Beautiful Planet” (2016) and “Traveling to Cosmos” (2015).
• Filming in space has already appeared in feature films. For example, in the Soviet picture of Alexander Surin, “Return from Orbit” (1983) used personnel specially made at the Salyut-7 space station and the Soyuz T-9 ship. The authors of these personnel are astronauts Alexander Alexandrov and Vladimir Lyakhov. They were not sent professional actors to them - unlike the “call”, for which director Klim Shipenko and actress Julia Pereshild flew to the ISS.

Due to the filming of the “call”, some real astronauts remained on the ground, while others lingered to the ISS

For the sake of space flight, Shipenko and Roskosmos changed the work plan of the ISS. The director and actress went to orbit instead of real cosmonauts Andrei Babkin and Dmitry Petelin , who long before that began preparations for the first flight in life.

In July 2021, one of the main popularizers of astronautics in Russia Alexander Khokhlov told about this Yetuub-channel "Editor":

There was a flight plan - and it was blocked. For example, very many do not remember and do not notice that because of this film, our astronaut and American astronaut [Francisco Rubio] will be at the station for almost a year. They had to fly for six months. They are silent about it.

The scientific program for a year was not normally made. I really feel sorry for our astronaut Andrei Babkin: he was supposed to fly [to the ISS] in the fall [2021], he waited a very long time. And in the spring [2021] he was removed: he is already more than 50 years old, he never flew and he could not duplicate the annual flight. He was removed, and he is not in the appointment of next year.

Babkin did not fly into space, however, this is also due to the fact that the astronaut, according to him, did not pass the medical commission. Petelin went to the ISS in September 2022 and, according to forecasts, should return to Earth this September.

Fabric critics do not understand why it was necessary to fly into space. And they scold the "call" for everything except the game of re -perephyda

In the first days of the Rest of Call, he retains at Kinopoisk an assessment in the region of 7.6 out of 10. Kinocritics also celebrate the acting talent of Julia Peresild, calling it “the only truly bright and living element of the film”, and also note that, perhaps, each of the shown “cosmic” frames could be removed from the ground at least spectacularly.

Most often, relevant journalists scold the “challenge” for a sharp contrast between space and earthly filming, as well as a weak plot of “classical production drama and, perhaps, even a series for daytime broadcasting”. This is how they speak about the film.

Egor Moskvitin, RBC :

The “challenge” begins with a humanistic mission in the spirit of almost the “salvation of the ordinary Ryan”. It turns out that the life of an individual can be more important for officials than possible dismissal or bad publicity. It turns out that cowardly and heartless people are in both Roscosmos and the prosecutor's office.

But the bad security forces who nightmare the rewind heroine, by calling from above (at the time of the call, the camera crawls to the portrait of the president) will be raised by good security forces - and then Russian women with their soft force re -play. But there will be no passionate monologues about the national character, as in the “time of the first” . The “challenge” relies on actions, and not on words - and at least for this he can be said to him.

Julia Shahelman, Kommersant :

Cosmonauts pronounce their remarks with a desperate awkwardness of people who, for some reason, were distracted from serious work, Julia Peresild demonstrates enviable physical shape, the mother of the heroine (Elena Valyushkina) is responsible for comic interruptions. It is crowned by everything successfully - and this is also not a spoiler - an operation, after which Zhenya returns home, receiving a kissing of pens from the leadership of Tsup and recognition of love from [Doctor] Vladislav [performed by Milos Bikovich] as a reward.

Alexey Pasyugin, Kinopoisk :

We look simultaneously as if two films, game and dock, and it is very difficult to switch between the two perception modes, suggesting completely different attractions. <...> Shipenko constantly throws us from regime to mode: suddenly the camera flies sharply from the ISS to the very ground, but we know that it is CGI , and the Fake’s feeling is also transferred to the ISS. Or the heroine performs an operation, and Vlad, sitting in the courtyard of her house, watches her on the screen of a cell phone, as if watching a stream in YouTube. And that’s all, we immediately fall to the ground from the space, and the effect of contact is lost.

Evgeny Tkachev, "Poster" :

It will be unfair to say that in the “call” there is absolutely nothing to see. Shipenko is a skilled director, so the film has several virtually set episodes. Say, a long scene with rewinds in a centrifuge. Or the entire surgical operation in zero gravity. Only all this is not enough to call a “challenge” a good film. Because it is, strictly speaking, not a movie, but an exhibition of national achievements, a three -hour promo of Roscosmos.

Nikolai Kubrak, "Canobe" :

Was it worth it? From a political point of view - yes. With creative - no. The “challenge” is an important “Achivka” for the state, which reached the championship in the literal development of space with a cinema.

"Jellyfish"