"Country of OZ" is one of the most high-profile Russian films of 2015. The comedy of the famous arthouse director Vasily Sigarev received favorable reviews from critics. At the Kinotavr festival, she was awarded the prize for the best screenplay, as well as the awards of the Guild of film critics and film critics, Elephant.
On the big screen, viewers saw the picture in December. On New Year's Eve, a shortened version of the censored movie was released on TNT. In particular, frank scenes and obscene language were cut out.
Project Manager
The main director of the film Vasily Sigarev is well known to the Russian audience. His first high-profile work was the painting “The Top”, which was released in 2009.
This is a psychological drama about mother and daughter. As stated in the official release: "They both run. Constantly. Without stops." Mother runs away from her daughter, from her problems in search of a better life. The daughter follows her tirelessly, since she cannot think of herself without her. Their life is a series of repeated errors, similar to the non-stop rotation of a top.
Three years later he releases the film "Live." It is based on three parallel storylines, whose characters are faced with the death of loved ones. A child loses a father, a girl - a groom, and a middle-aged woman dies twins. All this happens against the backdrop of the problems of the Russian hinterland.
"Land of OZ" is the director’s third feature film.
Comedy about Russian reality
In the story, the main character is Lena. On New Year's Eve, she arrives in the metropolis to start a new life. She gets a job in a night stall in a residential area of the city. And the whole movie is trying to get there. Lena resembles the girl Ellie from Frank Baum’s novel of the same name, who on her way meets all the same heroes - the Scarecrow, the Lumberjack, only each with a Russian flavor.
Many actors of the film "Country of OZ" are well known and known to the Russian public. This is the favorite actress Sigareva Yana Troyanova, as well as Gosha Kutsenko, Alexander Bashirov and Inna Churikova. All of them manage to create vivid and memorable images.
Director's wife
The main role is played by Yana Troyanova, the wife of Vasily Sigarev, the performer of the main roles in all his paintings.
Troyanova - a representative of the Sverdlovsk theater school. Born in 1973, graduated from Yekaterinburg Theater Institute. Fame brought her the main role in the film "Spinning Top". For this work, she received a prize for best actress at the Kinotavr festival, and was also nominated for the White Elephant Award.
Her work in the films "Kokoko" by Avdotya Smirnova and "Heavenly Wives of Meadow Maries" by Alexei Fedorchenko became memorable .
Two years ago, she made her independent debut as a director. All on the same "Kinotavr" she showed her film "Next" in the short film competition.
In the film "Country of OZ" (2015), the actors and the film crew got close to match each other. Troyanova plays Lenka Shabadinova - a woman who came to the big city from the wilderness. She captivates the viewer with her naivety, simplicity and straightforwardness. It is because of these qualities, perhaps, her life has not yet taken shape.
Yana Troyanova says to herself that "she came to die in this profession." And in this, as in other works, it is clear that this is indeed so. She works in full, the viewer trusts her. Many actors of the film "Country of OZ" work as selflessly, so the picture turned out to be successful.
Hero's companion
Lenka Shabadinova at the very beginning of the film meets Roman, the character of Gosha Kutsenko. An absurd, near and dissolute hero. At the same time, it is thanks to him that the picture appears to be wrapped in a pink romantic wrapper. This is because the actors of the film "Country of OZ" (2015), including Kutsenko, play sincerely. This bribes the viewer.
Kutsenko is one of the most famous artists of contemporary Russian cinema. He has accounted for more than fifty works, but not so many memorable ones as in OZ Land.
Old school actors
The mastodons of Russian cinema, the actors of the old, still Soviet school, can be attributed to Inna Churikova. "Land of OZ" is a film whose actors created very memorable characters. So Churikova has a small supporting role, but you always remember her when you start talking about a picture.
At Sigarev, she plays a pensioner, the mother of sons with great age, with whom she lives in the same apartment. One New Year's morning, in her balcony, she discovers Lenka Shabadinova, who found herself there, fleeing the jealous wife of an accidental acquaintance. With him, she came to the apartment next door. Churikova - her role in the film is designated as "the mother of Sofa Warriors" (sons - ardent fans of World of Tanks) takes Shabadinova for a girl of easy virtue, but does not condemn her. On the contrary, begins to sympathize and empathize.
The memorable image of Churikova and the quotes that were distributed after the premiere of the film to the people make this work one of her most successful in the last decade. This is how important it is for actors and roles to fit together. The creators of the film "Country of OZ" can confidently say: they succeeded.
Film crew
Not only the actors of the film "Country of OZ", but also the cameramen, producers, screenwriters and editors worked to the maximum of their capabilities.
The operator was 32-year-old Dmitry Ulyukaev, who had already managed to work in a dozen projects. True, before that it was either short films ("Forgotten", "Nearby", "You were always there"), or films that did not receive prizes at major festivals ("Deliveryman", "House without an address", "Life by surprise" )
Sofiko Kiknavelidze, already working in tandem with Ulyukaev, became the producer of the picture. The script Vasily Sigarev wrote together with Andrei Ilyenkov, for whom this work was the first in a big movie.
This team managed to make the "Country of OZ" a film whose actors and the entire crew can not be ashamed of their work.
New Year will not be the same
This is how the picture is positioned on its official website, and this is how the actors of the film "Country of OZ" speak of it. The creators of this uncontrollable New Year’s story note that the New Year in our country, like Pushkin’s Russian rebellion, is spontaneous and merciless. However, it is precisely on these days that the Russian soul manifests itself and our national flavor in all its glory. This also happens in the metropolis, in which the hometown of Yana Troyanova, the performer of the main role, is guessed, Ekaterinburg.
While the majority of residents are slowly and according to established traditions preparing for the family holiday themselves by watching The Irony of Fate and slicing Olivier Salad, Lenka Shabadinova should go to the night stall on Torforezov Street to start a new life at her new job. But she cannot even imagine how unexpected and crazy, but at the same time, this night will be kind and sincere.
All this is the film "Country of OZ". The actors and the roles they play will be remembered by the audience for many years.