I watched the Russian TV series “Volunteer Playlist” and got tired. Cinema is not for everyone

Okko online cinema offers a new series “Volunteer Playlist”.

This is a film adaptation of the wealth of the autobiographical novel by Mrshavko Shtapich (known as Artem Lyashenko). The director was Maxim Sveshnikov, who is responsible for the series “Container” and “Hotel Eleon”, as well as for the scripts for cartoons about the Three Bogatyrs.

Sveshnikov’s filmography is not very diverse, he also had frankly failed projects, such as “Hack Blogger Movies” or “Shaggy Christmas Trees.” However, since then he has qualitatively grown above himself and began to better cope with new movies.

Newsletter, which received a new series from Okko and whether it is worth paying attention to.

How search and rescue teams were born

The novelty tells about the beginning of the 2010s, when search and rescue teams appear only for readers.

What is the series about: Shtapich started a family early and also quickly lost it, managed to put an end to his career and was out of work at the age of 25. Once in the search and rescue squad, he gets the opportunity to realize himself in some professional field and acquire not just friends, like-minded people, but people who are truly passionate about their work.

Very quickly, Shtapich turns into the star of the squad, but success in the professional field does not bring the desired happiness. He continues to rush between his ex-wife, uninteresting to him, but ready for all fighting girlfriends and a girl nicknamed Doll, to whom Shtapich has inherent feelings.

One of the main characters of the series was Ivan Yankovsky, a promising actor of recent years, who starred in Swamps, Fisher and Fire. On the approach of Original +, he even received an award for the best original actor.

Here the artist took his place. He well expands the role of a person whose whole life has gone downhill, but at the same time he is aspected and does not plan to give up, although he is already tired of scale. Such a case occurred over the past day from all available episodes (only 4 episodes out of 8 have been released to date).

The plot itself is simple. We have a broken hero who, over time, is transformed in a series of extraordinary events. Nevertheless, already at the very beginning it is hardly possible for us to explain why Shtapich suddenly decided to reconsider his views on life. After all, at the very beginning, he was already almost a corpse, and when he discovered his fingers, he decided to change everything.

However, this makes him motivation, you begin to feel the character of Yankovsky – slightly boorish, impudent, but at the same time so attractive. And even despite a certain growth of the hero in his own eyes, the world around him still remains hopeless and oppressive. This stage continues until the very end.

The title of the film is easily played by the authors. “Volunteer Playlist” is a set of soundtracks Shtapich listens to in the course of his story. And we, as viewers, hear what is playing in his headphones. This music helps him sometimes from individuality, and sometimes from attention. The playlist of fate for all the episodes experienced, it is unchanged. And you will surely find some post-punk compositions.

However, the magazine has a strong difference from the book source. The authors seem to lost the main idea – the search for missing people is exactly the same people, in a sense, they themselves are lost.

In Sveshnikov’s project, rather, the focus is on the search procedure. They do not explore much reveal the very essence of these people, as in the original source.

Interest in the series is rapidly declining

The authors consider an intriguing plot, going through a 400-page book, but quickly enough using the pace that they themselves set.

The stories of people begin to interfere with each other and gradually coalesce into one big messwhere each of the characters contains a minimum of attention.

Yes, there is some kind of elaboration, and in the central characteristics it is even at a qualitative level. But due to the “outgrowths” in the form of secondary features, it seems that the authors just want to stretch the timing, and not help the viewer to feel more deeply.

General atmosphere more likely normal. The different destinies of people eventually converge to a single point, they cover everything with each other. Be that as it may, the main message is not felt as strongly as in his book, still visible.

You feel the brunt of their fate on yourself, and someone even has to empathize. It turns out why this is happening and you see how, with the help of search parties, they are fleeing from their own reality. This series is definitely worth a thumbs up.

Worth a look, but not for everyone

The mannerism of the Volunteer Playlist is quite specific, and in some places the story is very stretched. As it builds up, the project slows down and gets hung up on self-repetitions.

There is such an approach. However, it won’t go to everyone.

However, the novelty may be subject to attention. Charity to a kind source is a truly dramatic story with obscene positive life situations. Everyone can find something in it for themselves.