Seen at...
Man Who Surprised Everyone (The)
- Director: Aleksey Chupov; Natalya Merkulova
- Writer: Aleksey Chupov; Natalya Merkulova
- Producer: Ekaterina Filippova
CGiii Comment
Here's a film that will challenge those who like to be challenged!
The message this film delivers is loud...but, not so clear! From the off...violence. Incomprehensible violence...in the opening minutes, two men are killed for poaching a deer. There are consequences...when you don't follow the rules, when you step out of line, when you dare to be who you are! At times, you would be forgiven into thinking that this is a Russian propaganda film...warning the radicals, the free thinkers, the individual against any kind of reaction against the machine! Putin's Russia is synonymous with homophobia...Putin, himself, is the poster-boy for toxic masculinity. Here, in this film, that toxicity is play-out in full...for all the world to see. It is not pleasant.
This is a trans*film like no other...the acquiescence of the character is as startling as it is muted. She does not say a word, accepts her lot without indignation...but, with a steadfast resilience. Complex characters do not come more complex than this...this transition is - for the audience - sensory. Perhaps, quite possibly...the best cinematic explanation of the force behind transition...breath-taking.
A bewildering, bleak, bizarrely beautiful film.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Egor is a fearless state forest guard in the Siberian Taiga. He is a good family man, respected by his fellow villagers. He and his wife Natalia are expecting a second child. But one day Egor finds out that he has cancer and only two months left to live. No traditional medicine or shamanic magic can save him. Finally, left with no other options, he takes a desperate attempt to trick death. Egor chooses to take the identity of a woman as a way of fighting the disease. His family and the local society now have to accept his new self.
Cast & Characters
Evgeniy Tsyganov as Yegor
Natalya Kudryashova as Natalia
Yuriy Kuznetsov as Grandfather
Aleksey Filimonov as Stepka
Pavel Maykov as Zakhar
Igor Savochkin as Fedor
Maksim Vitorgan as Professor
Elena Voronchikhina as Shaman Woman