Peppers

Maxim makes a scene with his parents for “such a valuable” gift.

Maxim Savelyev, a graduate of the 11th grade, the self-centered and spoiled son of an oligarch, receives a television program as a gift (his mother really wanted to glorify her child). But at the very first shooting, Maxim learns that participation in the program will not glorify him, but on the contrary, this “show” will disgrace him in the eyes of his friends.

The fact is that the program is dedicated to the holiday of Scarlet Sails graduates, and the main characters there will be graduates from different social strata (Egor is disabled in a wheelchair, Nikolai is the son of a military man with attacks of fear, and Anya was brought up in overly strict religious rules), and the culminating event of the program will be the swim on a ship on the Neva…

This scandal becomes the last straw in the relationship with his father. Valery Viktorovich Savelyev achieved his wealth through his own labor and he had not liked his son’s quirks for a long time.

He gives his son an ultimatum – either participate in the program or join the army. Maxim does not want to serve and the next day he comes to the set, but… then a whole chain of events begins that puts the release of the program in jeopardy and Maxim rushes to save the show he hates.

We are just people. All.
Well, let’s start with the fact that I came across the film by chance while clicking on the channels.

I would like to immediately note that the film is certainly not a world-class masterpiece, but for some reason it arouses interest. From start to finish, I watched it, which is not bad for me personally, if we proceed from the fact that modern Russian cinema. Let’s say, is not quite at the same level as it was during the times of the USSR.

So. The plot is simple, but for our cinema it is new, at least I have not seen such films yet, which is not good, in this case, you will find out why below.

A rich boy, of course, living almost in Paradise, this is exactly how the director wants to present him, which he absolutely failed to do. At first we see only a “nice old American car” (the question is why not the Russian Chaika, for example?).

We see arrogant friends and their drive around the city screaming and screaming. This is apparently all that the creators’ imagination was enough to describe the ‘majors’, the children of rich parents. Then they show a modest room where dad and mom are having lunch with the main character.

Which also looks very stingy. There is no chic at all. Which is most likely what was intended from the beginning. And most likely for the purpose of “protection from the wrath of the people.” They say we won’t show wealth, we’ll just give a hint, and then everything is clear.

In general, the entire film is designed in exactly this manner. The viewer knows that a person has billions, but outwardly he does not see this. With the exception of some moments, and then extremely discreet ones. This is about the production.

Further. This film has a sufficient number of analogues in Hollywood. Or rather, “Peppers” is a Hollywood version adapted for us from several there.

And that’s precisely why it seemed to me that they started all this too early. What is normal for America, namely showing the financial gap, a cross-section of rich and poor. In our country looks a little artificial and somehow ugly, and above all, far-fetched. We have not yet formed a society where the division shown in the film would be justified.

Now what I liked. The characters are well chosen. A girl whose parents are in a ‘cult’ and who hides her cell phone from her parents because it is ‘sinful’.

This actually exists. A guy who lost his mother and lives with his father, who drank himself to death after a tragedy, in a communal apartment and is tormented by gopniks. He openly states that he is a coward in one episode. This also exists. You can believe it.

And finally the guy in the wheelchair. He has skills that he acquired while sitting at the computer for days and that he could use in life. But he has come to terms with his position as a disabled person and does not pretend to anything other than his chair. And that too. Such people exist. And there are actually plenty of them.

The actors for these characters were very well chosen. It is clear that the creators knew firsthand those they created on the screen. And for this we can only praise. The faces, clothes, behavior, everything about these three characters is very truthful.

I didn’t quite like the main character, the oligarch’s son Maxim, probably due to the fact that I don’t know such people in real life and don’t know their behavior, so I won’t judge.

Also in the movie there are, albeit not new, but inserted “into the theme” allegories (images that help to understand something). Clearly and perfectly showing the feelings of the main character. And in general the acting is also at a good level. A very impressive show director. And there are many more different moments that together delight both the eye and the mind.

In general, the film can be watched and even enjoyed.

I wanted to write a negative review at first, analyzing everything in the process. I realized that it was better to write a neutral one and at the very end I would give a positive rating.

The aftertaste came and made me happy.

Two years ago, a young native of Russia, Masha Lastochkina, came from a remote provincial town to noisy Moscow, a metropolis with enormous prospects and opportunities. A misfortune happened in her life – her close friend Andrei was killed by a random migrant worker.

Now the main character works as an inspector in the Federal Migration Service and that fatal incident forces her to fulfill. Her professional duty and instructions with even greater bitchiness and bitterness.

She takes on every task with great enthusiasm, and carries out her duties with impartiality and rigidity, and no one can convince her to be more loyal to the uninvited guests who literally overrun the capital. One day, a man named Hassan, a native of Tajikistan, is assigned as her partner.

Despite the fact that he is an informer, despised by his own fellow tribesmen, their position is on the same level. Together, the newly minted colleagues manage to identify the criminal “HR department”. It represents migrants selling fake documents to visiting fellow countrymen for a lot of money. True, the consequences that occur for the main characters turn out to be unpredictable for them.