In her new work, the third in a row, but not in quality, the director Avdotya Smirnova continued the psychological and sociological study of the relationship between the strata of Russian society. If the two previous projects were created in the form of love stories, then in the 2012 film we are talking about the vicissitudes of spontaneously erupted friendship between women over thirty. The film "Kokoko" received favorable reviews from domestic film experts, its rating according to IMDb is 6.80.
Director Avdotya Smirnova
The career of Avdotya, the daughter of the famous director Andrei Smirnov, developed rapidly. From her youth, she tried her hand at literary criticism, and was the main host of the TV program School of Slander. Only the last two decades plunged into the world of feature films. In the film industry, she started as a screenwriter, wrote texts for documentaries and feature films “Butterfly”, “Walk”, “Mania Giselle”, etc.
She made her debut as a director with the movie "Communication" in 2006. The tape was received with enthusiasm by critics, but for the audience went almost unnoticed. Two years later, Smirnova directed a wide television screen adaptation of Turgenev’s main novel “Fathers and Sons”. But her breakthrough as a visionary is considered to be the melodramatic comedy “Two Days” about the fateful meeting of a provincial literary critic (K. Rappoport) and a metropolitan official (Fedor Bondarchuk). Often the film "Kokoko" reviews of critics are compared with this work of the director. The film "Two Days" was also highly appreciated by filmmakers, however, despite all the prerequisites, its distribution was not very successful.
Continuing research
The film "Kokoko", released in 2012, whose actors and roles were selected each other during the casting, in agreement with the producer Sergey Selyanov, continued the trend of "Two days." In the new project, Smirnova also explores the micro- and macro-differences between the intelligentsia and the less demanding social stratum of the population, looking for the advantages and disadvantages of each layer. The project took part in the Kinotavra competition program, and the leading actresses won prizes in the Best Actress nomination. Also, thanks to the received commendable reviews, the film "Kokoko" was included in the competition programs of the film festivals "Amur Autumn", "Vivat Cinema of Russia!" and the XX festival of Russian cinema in Honfleur, where he was awarded. In 2013, the list of ribbon awards replenished with two nominations for the Nika Prize.
Inspired by The Wolf
According to the authors-contributors in their reviews of the film "Kokoko", the director Avdotya Smirnova decided to start work on the project after she watched the tape of V. Sigarev "The Top" with the brilliant Yana Troyanova in the title role. Amazed by the talent of the actress, the director decided to necessarily bring Troyanova to work on her next brainchild, bringing her together with the equally gifted singer Anna Mikhalkova, with whom she had previously collaborated in the Svyaz tape. According to the author’s intention, the heroines who would be embodied on the screen of Troyanov and Mikhalkov should be presented with critically antagonistic, but always integral and interesting types that attract each other like different poles of a magnet.
Short storyline
The content of the film "Kokoko" reviews of reviewers for the most part summarize, refraining from spoiler. The story begins with a meeting in the train compartment of the main characters - a resident of St. Petersburg, the ethnographer Elizabeth, returning from a tedious business trip, and the overwhelming Victoria, a reporter from the Urals, heading to the northern capital to have fun. By an unfortunate coincidence, fellow travelers are robbed. Their friendship story begins with the incident at the police station. The intelligent Lisa (Anna Mikhalkova) is not in a position to leave a chance acquaintance to her own fate, invites a guest from Yekaterinburg (Yana Troyanova) to live in her father’s inherited studio in his studio. Vika's gratitude is endless - she will bake pies and do the spring cleaning. But at some point, the idyll collapses. The well-known literary critic Smirnova, of course, could not refrain from giving the relationship of the two key characters a classic literary element, in particular, not affecting the notorious complex of guilt of the intelligentsia before the people. Perhaps that is why the film "Kokoko" the audience has mixed reviews. Not every layman was able to objectively evaluate the ladies' buddy movie.
Almanac from jokes
If you believe the reviews for the film "Kokoko", the story underlying the narrative of the picture was originally written as a drama, but nothing impressive came out of the co-authors. In addition to Smirnova, Anna Parmas worked on the script , after which she performed the episodic role of a housekeeper in Kokoko. After six months of creative torment and research, the tandem decided to make comedy out of drama, in extreme cases, tragicomedy. After the decision was made, the draft scenario was ready in a few days.
If we consider the tape as a lovely female buddy movie, then the creators should pay tribute. Smirnova, who had long been known as a masterly expert in sensible sensitivity, won a new victory, she managed the genre features perfectly, no worse than in the melodrama “Communication” or romcom “Two Days”.
Advantages of the tape
Film critics in their reviews of the film "Kokoko" noted that with each subsequent project Smirnova puts more and more metamorphic meanings into the framework of the genre shell. Because of this, certain problems arise in the audience perception of the paintings. Individual inhabitants, having watched the work of the director, positioned the film as an almanac from the usual jokes, due to incessant identification with the characters and recognition of familiar situations. Unlike the mass audience, art critics characterized the project as a talented and wisely created film, if you do not take into account the awkward finale. The advantages of the picture were reckoned with superbly developed characters, verified dialogues. The visualization of Smirnova was compared by critics with subtle intellectual needlework.
The ensemble "Kokoko"
Actors and film roles received critical reviews from critics. According to the verdict of film critics, the roles of two key characters are lived by outstanding actresses A. Mikhalkova and Y. Troyanova incomparable. They managed to clearly outline the confrontation between the “people” and the “intelligentsia”, absolutely as an attempt and its consequences of the “movement of the intelligentsia into the people”. There was no problem with casting for the role of central heroines, since the characters were originally written under the data of the performers. In the merits of the authors of the picture, a very balanced demonstration of each heroine should be added, not one has the slightest advantage in terms of the indelible impression made.
All other secondary roles were played by actors who previously starred with Smirnova, for example, Konstantin Shelestun, Gennady Smirnov, Yevgeny Muravich took a direct part in the production of the film “Two Days”. The exception was Julia Snigir, who in Kokoko played a small role as an almost imperceptible intern.
Minor flaws
Insignificant shortcomings of the film "Kokoko" reviews of connoisseurs of modern cinema called stereotypical ideas about the disposition of social forces. In their opinion, both heroines in the interpretation of Smirnova are too arbitrary. Although in comparison with approving reviews and reviews, the percentage of neutrals is very small. For the most part, domestic film critics said that Smirnova was able to accomplish the almost impossible in modern Russian cinema - to create a genre of good-quality folk comedy, funny and clever.
The project, in which there are excellent acting, recognizable life types, witty dialogs, was not without reason successful at past shows and all kinds of film festivals. By the way, the musical accompaniment to the picture was created by Sergey Shnurov, this fact also did not go unnoticed and was reflected in the reviews of the film “Kokoko”.