User reviews

Russian director Vadim Abdrashitov's "Parade of the planets" defies easy classification. It begins as a science fiction film and just when things appear to have settled for viewers, it treads cautiously to be considered a 'military film.' There are various minor incidents which happen throughout the film. However, they do not make up for a convenient, linear narrative structure. If one were to list a close yet apt description of this film, it can be judged to be a film about 'male bonding in Russia'. It is very rare in the field of world cinema that audiences come across a film which captivates viewers yet at the same time forces them to endlessly rack their brains. There comes a point in this film when things become so complicated for viewers to understand the very essence of this film that even the astronomical event of supreme importance mentioned in the title has limited or almost no role in the film. It is just a tiny backdrop in the larger scheme of things in the lives of some Russian military men. There is a labored, swift intermingling of past and present lives. Once these leading men's 'emotional merry go round' is over, they return back to face their normal lives.

What you will find here for sure: great score, fantastic sets, adorable characters, impressive women, weird happenings, allusions to Christian antiquity and to the antiquity BC...

What you will certainly NOT find here: CGI, fiery explosions, bed scenes and wild sex, blood spilling, taboo language and foul swearing, toilet humour, violence and sadistic violence, horror elements, drug themes, rock and heavy metal...

It's in the same league as a much more famous "Stalker" while being not a single bit inferior in quality.

Perhaps, the audience of today will consider this one as a very sexist example of cinema. Well, this world has been sexist since the very beginning and women can go to kitchen and wash the utensils while men are enjoying this extraordinary male movie.

If you fall asleep during this feature, it's not for you. Tastes DO differ.

A 10 out of 10. Thank you for attention.

"Parade of the Planets" gives you an illusory airy, gauzy feeling. It's woven of a light and some invisible matter - hard to catch, yet impossible not to feel. It's late in the afternoon, the sky is still crystal, but you feel the air is thicker, there's a sense of doom all around... the thunder is coming. The storm that will wash away everything. We won't even see it, probably, but the feeling itself is overwhelming.

The film, a continuous surreal metaphor shot in the everyday life style, may seem a little hard to interpret without knowing the context, but everyone can appreciate the incredible sense of weightlessness and doom it manages to combine.

Vadim Abdrashitov died 1.5 years ago at the age of 79. Many times, journalists and film lovers (at creative meetings with the director) asked him: so what is your film "Parade of Planets" about? He was evading the question. I think he was right not to answer. Many have their own interpretation of the film and its numerous "layers" - from the emotional to the philosophical. I perceive the main theme of the film as ABOUT LOST OPPORTUNITIES. About the transience of life, which we cannot properly and fully dispose of, mired in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, missing more than gaining. This is especially evident in the novel "The City of Women". There, an obviously unknown force demonstrates to each hero his ideal, the ideal woman with whom he would be happy if she met him in life. But she didn't meet! They all missed their ideals in their lives... In general, simplifying, we can say: the film is about the fact that our life is a sad thing, no matter how cheerful we are and demonstrate mock fun and cheerfulness...