This week, the screening of “Yolok 11” started in Russian cinemas. We decided to take a chance and see what the creators of this endless New Year’s franchise have in store for us. Just imagine, the New Year is a time for miracles, which means it’s a chance to revive the festive mood. Did it work? Of course not.
The main intrigue of the film is the mystery: for whom was all this filmed? The creators decided to please everyone at once: fans of Turkish TV series, lovers of fairy tales for adults, STS fans and even grandmothers.
First things first.
Part of the film is fairy tales for adults
What is the film about?: “Yolki 11” is a New Year’s almanac of several intertwining stories taking place in different parts of Russia. All stories discuss themes of family values, an attempt to bring back the New Year’s miracle and a very controversial sense of humor, or rather the lack thereof.
It should be remembered that “Christmas Trees” are no longer heartfelt stories with sometimes successful jokes, but a collection of fairy tales for adults who still believe in New Year’s miracles. Everything looks contrived and sometimes downright ridiculous, as if the script was written on the fly to achieve success for the holidays. There seems to be a New Year at Yolki, but the atmosphere is deteriorating behind mountains of clichés and artificial emotions.
The film will be everything at once, but it will be holistic. each story seems like a blatant attempt to hook a specific audience, but none of them hit the mark.
One of the main short stories is literally a modern “Cinderella”, where local girl Nastya dreams of meeting her idol, Turkish actor Buraku Ozcivit. The prince from the series, who arrived in Almetyevsk (yes, you read that correctly), looks so confused that, apparently, he himself does not understand what he is doing in this story.
But the creators believed that his presence was the perfect way to carry women into the halls awaiting a romantic miracle. Great marketing ploy, I hope it doesn’t work.
However, I note that in this story there lives a year-long joke for the entire film, which only old, boring football fans will understand. But fans of Turkish TV series definitely won’t understand. In other words, the joke will most likely fall on deaf ears.
In another story, a mother of five suddenly becomes a beautiful beauty. But not from a witch’s spell, but from everyday vanities that neither crying children, nor cleaning, nor even the police can wake up. Everything changes with the arrival of a sea captain, so meek that he seems not to be afraid of children, quarrels, or general cleaning for the New Year. We believe, of course.
You’re just ashamed of some of the film
The other two participants in the story have one common feeling – awkwardness, and not the characters, but the viewer.
The first is the story of Uncle Yura (played by Dmitry Nagiyev), who takes care of a mini-pig, reads to him and fries zucchini. Here Dmitry is frankly stuck in the image of Zadov. Nothing new.
The use of chord controls from Rocky in this novel is a separate episode of cringe and absurdity. The famous theme from “Rocky” was used to give the scenes with the mini pig a fake atmosphere. But we understand that this is just a story about an eccentric security guard who wears his pig socks. This is not a story about transition or negotiations, but rather a sketch from a sketch show from the 90s.
This whole line so absurdly combines the pretense of touching and cartoonish humor that the question arises: who is this filmed for?
The second is a story about a village relative who suddenly bursts into the life of his Moscow careerist son. There are a lot of moral and conspiratorial jokes from the “city versus country” category, which allegedly escaped from the STS channel ten years ago. All attempts to make this line funny look as forced as the relationships of the characters on the screen.
These two stories were, as it were, specially introduced so that the audience would sit in the hall with one question: “Seriously? Did anyone actually find this funny?”
In the end you will be angry
At the end of this whole farce, the song “Echo of Love” is used and this is perhaps the pinnacle of manipulation, which gives the feeling that the creators simply did not know how to hook the viewer.
“Echoes of Love” is a song of power that evokes strong feelings not because of what happens on the screen, but because of its own. She belongs to a culture of dark symbols that can evoke emotions even when cutting cat videos. By including it in the finale, the creators are trying to pull this emotional magic onto their work. Done, they do not create their own atmosphere, but borrow the viewer’s emotions, built on nostalgia. This is an extremely cheap trick.
Recently this music was listened to on “The Challenge”, and now it’s repeated here. Seriously? Are you that bad with your own ideas?
All this blatant reliance on nostalgia was clearly aimed at an older audience who remembers the period when the song was popular. This is not just an invocation of warm feelings – it is a banal exploitation of cultural memory. The creators allegedly say: “Well, now grandmothers will definitely cry.”
Instead of adding meaning to the film or strengthening its message, Echoes of Love becomes a symbol of creative laziness. This song has a better use. The authors should be ashamed.
Especially when all this is solved with closed advertising of delivery services, mayonnaise and a large retail chain. A sort of typical “Christmas tree”, but without measures and boundaries.
Without a soul, we don’t watch this and don’t recommend it
As they say, money has no smell. The previous “Yolki 10” a year earlier collected $4.5 million at the box office. Was it a decent movie? No. Is it possible to raise a new part of approximately the same amount? Yes.
The lack of a suitable alternative and the viewer’s desire to touch the New Year’s mood will play a role. Nothing personal or emotional, it’s just business. Without a soul.
Source: Iphones RU
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
