Forsaken (2018 film)

Forsaken (Russian: Пришелец, literally "Extraterrestrial") is a 2018 Russian science fiction psychological thriller directed by Aleksandr Kulikov.[1] Originally known as "Martian", the movie bears striking similarities to Ridley Scott's 2015 film, and, despite having a different ending, was heavily criticized in Russia and worldwide. It received generally negative reviews.[2]

Forsaken
Directed byAleksandr Kulikov
Produced byAleksandr Karpov
Written byMikhail Raskhodnikov
Olga Rashodnikova
Aleksey Petrukhin
Starring
Music bySergey Dudakov
Sergey Nemirovskiy
CinematographySergey Pavlov
Edited byIlya Andrashnikov
Production
companies
  • Muravey Production
  • Russian Film Group
  • Soyuz Marins Group
Distributed byLuxor Film
Release date
  • November 8, 2018 (2018-11-08)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryRussia
LanguageRussian

Plot

In near-distant future, a space expedition consisting of three astronauts is sent to Mars by Roscosmos. Two of the crewmembers die on impact, leaving only their captain, Alexander Chapaev, a surviving member. He starts counting his days on the planet, aided only by a still working radio communication with Earth, as well as a robotic drone to keep him company. On Earth, all efforts to bring Alexander back home turn into quarrels between the government and the space agency, until some private investor proposes his help. However, it soon turns out to be a hoax, since the company sending Alexander subsistence for survival decides to turn his broadcast into a reality show, and is not interested in getting the astronaut back to Earth at all. Bereft of his family, Chapaev starts having mind-boggling hallucinations and meets an entity who reveals to be sentient Mars lifeform. The film ends with Chapaev not knowing what is real and what isn't anymore, while it is hinted that the whole mission was staged only to raise TV ratings among the viewers.

Cast
  • Andrey Smolyakov as Aleksandr Kovalyov
  • Anna Banshchikova as Anna
  • Maksim Vitorgan as Pyotr Novikov
  • Grigory Siyatvinda as Grisha Star
  • Yuriy Tsurilo as Alexey Alexeyevich
  • Aleksandr Kulikov as Aleksandr Chapaev
  • Yevgeniya Shipova as news correspondent
  • Boris Moiseev as Roman Randolf
  • Maksim Surayev as Maksim Surayev

Reception

The film was a clear box office bomb, grossing out only around 15 million Russian rubles ($206,000 US) on a 350 million ruble ($4,800,000 US) budget. It was considered the worst grossing movie in Russian film history, until it was surpassed by Spitak within the same year. Fond Kino has released a statement in 2019 in which it officially apologized for having allocated taxpayer income money for the production of this film (in Russia, this is not the first time a federal body allocates taxpayer money for movies that bomb in box office, and the gesture itself is infamously considered by Russians to be a part of government corruption).[3]

References
  1. Ivanova, Aleksandra (17 April 2018). "105 Российский Кинорынок: Футбольные и фантастические истории от «Люксора»". ProfiCinema (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  2. Самые провальные российские фильмы: топ-10 за 2018 год | Избранное | Мир фантастики и фэнтези
  3. Итоги 2018 года: десятка самых коммерчески провальных российских релизов — общие убытки индустрии составят около 5 млрд руб Archived January 23, 2019, at the Wayback Machine | Кинопортал KINODATA.PRO. Все о кино: поиск фильмов, афиша, новости кино, кинообзоры, кассовые сборы.
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