quietearth [Celluloid 06.15.08] movie news scifi



By now we all know about the big budget Russian scifi epic Inhabited Island, based on the novel of the same name by the prominent Strugatsky brothers, and after checking out Ugly Swans (Gadkie Lebedi), an arthouse film heavy on dialog and very poetic, I decided to see if anything else was in store. Besides a planned Hollywood remake (read: butchery) of Roadside Picnic (aka Stalker, see Tarkovsky), there is something even bigger in the works and yes, it's a Russian production. Called Hard to be a God, the story revolves around historians disguising themselves as average civilians on a planet which is still in medieval times. "On another planet, which goes through its middle ages, a group of historians from Earth live pretending to be average people. The main character, known as Don Rumata, is disgusted by cruelties he observes on everyday basis but is prohibited by his superiors from interfering and thus changing the natural course of history of the planet. The only thing the historians have a right to do is to protect and help few individuals who seem to be different from everybody else and can benefit the entire planet through their knowledge and ideas. Rumata has to find one of these people, Budakh, and rescue him from the hands of Don Reba, a ruler of the country and an insane tyrant." The film is done in delicious black and white, and looks to be an attempt at an arthouse interpretation of fine literature. Release is scheduled for later this year, but in Russia only. Plenty of stills after the break!

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Cyberhal (14 years ago) Reply

that's an interesting premise, looking forward to seeing this one develop

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