First of all, the name of the director attracts the film – Ilya Malakhova is known as a screenwriter. Associate of director Bakura Bakuradze, she worked with him in such films as “Hunter”, “Brother Deyan”. This year, Malakhova’s name was mentioned in connection with the first film shot in space, The Challenge. And there is a parallel here. The film company behind the Start online movie theater worked on The Challenge. Namely, under his wing, the picture “Hello, Mom” was also shot. That is, we can say that the producers are “forging a new name” – they themselves are preparing a valuable shot for themselves. Let’s look at Malakhova’s opening from this point of view.
It’s strange, but the main character of the movie “Hello, Mom” is terribly childish. Her name is Kira, she is 36 years old. There is a ringtone on the phone, the song “Cinderella”, which explains a lot. Kira is played by a wonderful actress Daria Savelyeva. Strange, because the times of children’s generations in the country have long since ended. The reality is that people become adults as quickly as possible. Sometimes the youth of today are smarter and wiser than those who are older than them. But Malakhova chooses a completely different type, and there is something in this. Kira just doesn’t want to face life’s challenges. She runs away from them. She seems to be a grown woman, but with the smile of a little girl, and even sometimes when no one sees her, she jumps. She works in a serious place – at the Pulkovo airport, in a call center. There are also many responsibilities in her life: she lives with her younger sister Vera (Aglaya Tarasova) and two schoolgirl nieces (the youngest is played by the daughter of Ili Malakhova and Bakura Bakuradze). But Kira consciously or unconsciously pushes all this into the background. She also does not solve the main problem: several years ago, her mother and Vera disappeared. It is necessary to access inheritance rights, repair an apartment, improve living conditions, start building her own life …
Instead, Kira behaves like Vera’s third daughter, plays with her nieces on equal terms, builds relationships with men as if she were a teenager, unconsciously or not, but chooses married people so that the relationship is easy and without commitment. . .. a family that wants to stay a little longer, or rejection of the fact that mom is no longer here? Unwillingness to accept. This image is interesting to see and analyze with a psychologist and other specialists. In addition, there is another character in the film – an autistic neighbor (performed by the son of Ili Malakhova and Bakura Bakuradze), who, according to her role, is forever in childhood and will never get out of it.
The movie has a number of brilliant male characters. Played by Ilya Khetagurov, Grigory Chaban, Igor Grabuzov. And the dialogues of men and women are curious. For example, Khetagurov’s hero, a married pilot, Kira’s lover, expands on the theme that there are women for love and for motherhood. The image is generally conducive to reflection, one “but” interferes. Cinema is like a top that slowly spins in one place, like the heroine’s life, in fact. And there is a certain boredom and procrastination in this, which makes you think that auteur film festivals are festivals, rentals are rentals, but the film is made by a platform and will be seen on the Web. Ilya Malakhova took the style and rhythm of Bakuradze’s paintings, which, by the way, were once selected for the Cannes and Locarno Film Festival programs. Who knows how Ilya influenced Bakura and he influenced her creatively, but it so happened that this is his style: some delicious prolongation, as, for example, in “The Hunter”: elaboration of details, prolonged focus, terrible hopelessness and pain. … In the film “Hello, Mom” it interferes, in the paintings of Bakura Bakuradze it attracts. If Ili Malakhova’s film could be shortened by 20 minutes, it could be talked about as one of the brightest debuts of the year, but in the form it is, the word “most” can be safely dropped. However, the picture will surely be appreciated for the touching theme of a lost childhood, which you cling to with all your might. And it also stands out because, in the context of an increasing number of images about the loss of children, someone began to talk about the loss of parents, in particular a mother who is so necessary and whose loss is impossible to accept. . .
