Piratex of the Barracuda Galaxy, Review: Russian Film Festival maintains its tempo, with adrenalne online

rates of the Barracuda Galaxy, Review: Russian Film Festival maintains its tempo, with adrenaline online

Missing out on just one film so far, I have seen three of the four films screened, at the ongoing Russian Film Festival, at Cinépolis, New Link Road, Andheri West, Mumbai. The festival began with the wrestling film Triumph, on 12th December, I could not make it in time for the second film, The Flying Ship, on the 13th. My review of Triumph was included in the coverage of the film festival, in my first instalment. The two films I saw on Saturday were good too, one of them even better than the first film. Their titles were: Pirates of the Barracuda Galaxy, and ICE 3.

Pirates of the Barracuda Galaxy (Piraty Galaktiki Barrakuda, in Russian), Review

Blending Science-fiction with a strong human narrative, Pirates of the Galaxy was a sight for sore eyes. The film is a very good example of inserting a lot of sci-fi, but not too much. It also has romance of the teenage variety, but not too much. Then there is comedy, in large scoops, most of it in satirical dialogue, but again, not too much. Mainly about a young boy, who looks 6-7 years old, it also has teenagers and grown-ups and senior citizens, in leading roles. Racy and pacey for the major part, it does slow down at just the right moments. If you can lay your hands on it, don’t miss a second before you start watching it.

Barracuda, of course, is a fish, a sea butcher, the ferocious competitor of sharks, that attacks humans and can remain deadly even after its own death! So, we have here a galaxy that calls itself Barracuda. A young, nerdish boy, Mitya, who wears spectacles almost at the tip of his nose, and who is picked upon by the school’s resident macho, several years older than him, who misses no opportunity to rag him, is the main character in the film. Other characters include the ragger, Kolya, his romantic interest, Kristina, two school teachers—one male one female, and three identical, cloned grannies. Right in the beginning, the bully asks the boy to play some music on his ukulele, which is actually a violin, carried by the young boy as part of his learning music. Not daring to disobey, the nerd obliges. Unimpressed by the nerd’s inability to play fast music, of the pop/rock/rap variety, the bully throws his violin into a garbage dumper. Kid runs across to retrieve the violin, only to find that an alien has just landed in it.

Alien clones the nerd, to disguise himself, a trick that is common among members of his galaxy. He then meets the two who are not yet a couple, and they join him in his search of a teleporter that will charge his wrist accessory, a super-computer. He takes a stick and stirs the water of a pond, which, in turn, shows him the location of his destination. The boy and the girl are shocked and ask him how can water give him directions. He calls them fools, adding that water has many properties, including this feature, and the under-developed earthlings have been unable to tap it. He passes adverse comments on earth, for its inability to take growth beyond 1.5%, in spite of having a population of two billion. The boy and the girl are stupefied, but ask him why he wants to be treated as a knowledgeable grown-up, although he is a kid. He says he is 200 years old, so he is the senior-most, among the three.

Kiddo helps the three to getaway in a car, which he drives at incredible speed, and when it is about to fall over a cliff, freezes it in mid-air. Meanwhile, the duo of the two teachers, a gent and a lady, chase them, with a hidden ulterior motive. They too have been cloned, by two other Barracuda aliens, and have developed fangs, fangs that are bitching to bite, very much like snakes. When asked his name, kiddo says they can call him whatever they like, but he has no name. That is not possible, insist the duo. He explains that his name would need three compound sentences to pronounce. Revealing more about himself, he says that he is a pirate and was banished from Barracuda on account of his criminal acts. As punishment, he was to be sent to a planet with no inhabitants, but, due to a glitch, he landed on earth, which is densely populated.

Now, he must recharge his battery, find a spaceship and fight off the two snake-humans, as well as three hostile grannies, cloned by three other alien, who is sent to capture him. Seeing some thick electrical wires, he logs on to them and recharges his battery, plunging a whole village in total darkness, because he needs a very heavy charge. Thus begins a search for his long hidden spaceship, which has taken the shape of a house, in order to blend with the surroundings, from where he can send a signal to his henchmen about his location, and a race against time, the two hunters and the three grannies out to get him. The cloned Mitya has no knowledge of music, but music will save him from the clutches of the crime-lord, and the wrath of the Head of the Barracuda Galaxy.

Gifted writers Andrey Gelasimov and Natalya Milyavskaya have used every trick in the trade, and some more in galactic sci-fi, to keep the interest going. There is hardly a dull moment in the film, which is 92 minutes long, leaving you craving for more. The tale unfolds at breakneck speed, with dialogue often rattled off a Radio Jockey speed, about 180 words per minute, against the normal, low speed of 120 words per minute and the average pace of 150 words per minute.

It’s a pity that we have to read sub-titles while watching the images, which can sometimes find one lagging behind the image, being busy reading the sub-titles of a particular shot. Director Anton Bormatov, shows how SFX, VFX and other AI based tools can be used to tell a story that appeals to everyone, from 7 to 70.

Being 54 years old now, Bormatov is a director and actor, known for The Alien Girl (2010), Olga (2016) and Sindrom (2023), so an alien theme is not alien to him. Moreover, he gives every indication that he still has the child in his heart. Speed, on screen, can be achieved by rapid cutting, or supersonic dialogue, or both, but Bormanov does not restrict himself to these mechanical ploys. He works on the tight script to create twists and turns at every stage, to keep the adrenaline online. The riveting robotic moves of the actors are smoothly delineated, and elicit a lot of mirth and laughter. Never a dull moment.        

In the cast are actors that we in India, at least the overwhelming majority, know nothing about. They might be aliens in our universe. Not anymore. The kid playing the lead role, Boris Deykov, is amazingly precocious for his age. It is possible that ditector Anton Bormatov chose a boy who, in real life, is maybe 10 or 11 years old, but is short, and looks much younger, for this demanding role. An award would be well-deserved, for his double role.  Also in the cast are Polina Gukhman as Kristina and Aleksey Onezhen as Kolya. These three, and all the supporting actors, have done a remarkable job, in front of the camera. But let us not forget the talent behind the screen, which comes up with suck a smooth mixture of real action and seamless VFX and CGI, often seen in unbelievably curvy moves, thrilling freezes and mid-air suspensions.

Pirates of the Barracuda Galaxy is feel good film, with fun at its epicentre, that does just that: make you laugh and make you feel good. And a packed audience at Cinépolis did not stinge on applause and laughter. From a strictly critical point of view, one might crib about the comic strip and cardboard/plastic moulds, seen as such, but we know that this is not real, and the makers make no bones about depicting reality. It is escapism, but a well-deserved escapade into contemporary Russian cinema. Pirates of the Barracuda Galaxy was released in August 2024.

Rating: *** ½

Coming up: A review of the Russian film ICE 3.