Perhaps it's useful to begin by saying that I watched the long version (aka the Director's Cut) of "Cherez ternii k zvyozdam". This version makes for a very long movie consisting of a part 1 and a part 2, separated by an intermission. Viewers blessed with an unshakeable patience can watch the whole in one sitting, but it may be wiser to watch both halves separately.
I can't tell you anything about the short version, but the long version is quite intelligible, with all its connective tissue present and working. So what we've got here is a Soviet era science fiction movie about an android rescued from a ruined alien spacecraft. The android, which looks like an unusually beautiful woman, is transported to Earth, where a cultured family of scientists and explorers will function as a foster family. Gradually it becomes clear that the disaster survivor was part of an experiment undertaken by a highly controversial scientist. And the rest, dear reader, is for you to discover by yourself...
"Cherez" treats a number of classic science fiction themes, such as the exploration of space and the interaction with intelligent aliens. The movie is also notable for its warning about the dangers of pollution and environmental degradation : the second part contains a chilling evocation of a once-beautiful planet ruined by the greed, short-sightedness and division of its inhabitants. If this sounds disquietingly like our own good planet Earth, well, so it should. (According to the movie, the future will bring us highly efficient space "sanitation crews" specifically charged with cleaning up whole worlds. These sanitation crews flit around like miracle-working angels, helpfully changing corrosive rain into life-giving water and so on. It's a lovely idea, but very much an instance of wishful thinking. Even in the year 28 500 the repair of serious environmental damage is likely to involve long, hard and costly toil.)
The various creators of "Cherez" can thank lead actress Yelena Metyolkina for her rare and fragile beauty. Delicate, long-limbed and slender, Metyolkina seems to belong to a species different from us clumsy homo sap.
It's difficult to slap a rating on the movie ; I thought it started out very well, before gradually descending into space opera cliché (or, near the end, even space opera camp). I'm giving it 8 stars, mainly for its ambition and its strong, striking visuals.
I can't tell you anything about the short version, but the long version is quite intelligible, with all its connective tissue present and working. So what we've got here is a Soviet era science fiction movie about an android rescued from a ruined alien spacecraft. The android, which looks like an unusually beautiful woman, is transported to Earth, where a cultured family of scientists and explorers will function as a foster family. Gradually it becomes clear that the disaster survivor was part of an experiment undertaken by a highly controversial scientist. And the rest, dear reader, is for you to discover by yourself...
"Cherez" treats a number of classic science fiction themes, such as the exploration of space and the interaction with intelligent aliens. The movie is also notable for its warning about the dangers of pollution and environmental degradation : the second part contains a chilling evocation of a once-beautiful planet ruined by the greed, short-sightedness and division of its inhabitants. If this sounds disquietingly like our own good planet Earth, well, so it should. (According to the movie, the future will bring us highly efficient space "sanitation crews" specifically charged with cleaning up whole worlds. These sanitation crews flit around like miracle-working angels, helpfully changing corrosive rain into life-giving water and so on. It's a lovely idea, but very much an instance of wishful thinking. Even in the year 28 500 the repair of serious environmental damage is likely to involve long, hard and costly toil.)
The various creators of "Cherez" can thank lead actress Yelena Metyolkina for her rare and fragile beauty. Delicate, long-limbed and slender, Metyolkina seems to belong to a species different from us clumsy homo sap.
It's difficult to slap a rating on the movie ; I thought it started out very well, before gradually descending into space opera cliché (or, near the end, even space opera camp). I'm giving it 8 stars, mainly for its ambition and its strong, striking visuals.