'Satan'
CHICAGO -- Color the devil gray -- making it all the harder to see, in this case, him. In this chilling Soviet thriller, a dispassionate sociopath (Sergei Kupriyanov) abducts a top bureaucrat's 10-year-old daughter and methodically, mercilessly kills her.
The gray monster here is representative of the heinous barbarity spawned by life under the heel of the Communist Party. ''Satan, '' screening here as part of the Chicago International Film Festival, is a tough film and writer-director Viktor Aristov does not hestitate to turn the knife in this carve-up of the Soviet social system.
Unflinchingly graphic, ''Satan'' will be a tough swallow for those without steel stomachs. While the abominable crime itself is shown early on and lightning-quick, it permeates the film, imbuing viewer sensibility with a squeamish revulsion. Undeniably, the stench of such a revolting act is what Aristov seems to wish to cast upon the whole, vile structure of the Soviet superbureaucracy.
Narratively, ''Satan'' is simple: Handsome Vitali (Kupriyanov) seeks revenge on the beautiful Aljona (Svetlana Bragarnik) who, after a tempestuous affair, rejected him. A chronic screwup even by Soviet standards, Vitali has been dismissed from a number of petty jobs for incompetence, among them his short, hot tenure under Aljona, a high-ranking bureaucrat.
In this serpentine scenario, Aljona's fruits of party reward included not only sexual dalliances but, in the monstrously corrupt social system, the opportunity to abscond with large sums of money. Vitali discovers her crimes, which springboards his kidnap-revenge tactic.
This grim, gruesome plot essentially serves as the textural backdrop for Aristov's scalpel-sharp rendering of everyday Soviet life, as defiled by the Communist Party: Widespread drunkenness, cramped living conditions and racial divisiveness smear the narrative with a glimpse into the Soviet everyday.
Although his role is Evil Incarnate here, Kupriyanov's performance is fleshed out to the full brutish dimensions of a credible, human monster. As the corrupt high official and bedeviled mother, Bragarnik musters to the forefront her character's redeeming human qualities, while showing us the amoral being she has been turned into by the system.
Pitching this social indictment to its most heinous proportions, Aristov's technical team deserve special plaudits. A. Gagulaschvili's asynchronous, percussive music stretches nerve ends, while Juri Voronzov's naturalistic cinematography conveys the dank, gray squalor of Soviet life.
SATAN
Lenfilm Studios
Producers Sergei Avrutin, Valentina Goroschnikova
Screenwriter-director Viktor Aristov
Director of photography Juri Voronzov
Production designer Vladimir Bannykh
Music A. Gagulaschvili
Editor J. Vigdorshik
Sound mixer Nikolai Astachov
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Vitali Sergei Kupriyanov
Aljona Svetlana Bragarnik
Running time -- 106 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
The gray monster here is representative of the heinous barbarity spawned by life under the heel of the Communist Party. ''Satan, '' screening here as part of the Chicago International Film Festival, is a tough film and writer-director Viktor Aristov does not hestitate to turn the knife in this carve-up of the Soviet social system.
Unflinchingly graphic, ''Satan'' will be a tough swallow for those without steel stomachs. While the abominable crime itself is shown early on and lightning-quick, it permeates the film, imbuing viewer sensibility with a squeamish revulsion. Undeniably, the stench of such a revolting act is what Aristov seems to wish to cast upon the whole, vile structure of the Soviet superbureaucracy.
Narratively, ''Satan'' is simple: Handsome Vitali (Kupriyanov) seeks revenge on the beautiful Aljona (Svetlana Bragarnik) who, after a tempestuous affair, rejected him. A chronic screwup even by Soviet standards, Vitali has been dismissed from a number of petty jobs for incompetence, among them his short, hot tenure under Aljona, a high-ranking bureaucrat.
In this serpentine scenario, Aljona's fruits of party reward included not only sexual dalliances but, in the monstrously corrupt social system, the opportunity to abscond with large sums of money. Vitali discovers her crimes, which springboards his kidnap-revenge tactic.
This grim, gruesome plot essentially serves as the textural backdrop for Aristov's scalpel-sharp rendering of everyday Soviet life, as defiled by the Communist Party: Widespread drunkenness, cramped living conditions and racial divisiveness smear the narrative with a glimpse into the Soviet everyday.
Although his role is Evil Incarnate here, Kupriyanov's performance is fleshed out to the full brutish dimensions of a credible, human monster. As the corrupt high official and bedeviled mother, Bragarnik musters to the forefront her character's redeeming human qualities, while showing us the amoral being she has been turned into by the system.
Pitching this social indictment to its most heinous proportions, Aristov's technical team deserve special plaudits. A. Gagulaschvili's asynchronous, percussive music stretches nerve ends, while Juri Voronzov's naturalistic cinematography conveys the dank, gray squalor of Soviet life.
SATAN
Lenfilm Studios
Producers Sergei Avrutin, Valentina Goroschnikova
Screenwriter-director Viktor Aristov
Director of photography Juri Voronzov
Production designer Vladimir Bannykh
Music A. Gagulaschvili
Editor J. Vigdorshik
Sound mixer Nikolai Astachov
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Vitali Sergei Kupriyanov
Aljona Svetlana Bragarnik
Running time -- 106 minutes
No MPAA rating
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 10/18/1991
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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