The drama Masha, the first full-length directorial work of the screenwriter and musician Anastasia Palchikova, is being released in Russia.

The director also wrote the script for the film.

Valery Todorovsky became the artistic director of the film.

The main character is a red-haired girl Masha performed by Polina Gukhman.

The audience gets to know Masha at the moment when she turns from a child into a girl and those around her begin to look at her differently.

But, fortunately, the heroine is protected from undue attention by friends from her uncle's boxing section.

Masha puts on makeup for the first time and puts on "grown-up" shoes that are not in size, her first love comes to her.

Previously, the girl simply loved to sing jazz, but now she needs to perform in front of the audience (albeit in front of friends) and take vocal lessons.

Also, the heroine will have to learn to take responsibility for her actions and think about the consequences (for example, if she cries in front of her friends, the accidental culprit of her grief will be beaten to a pulp).

“Masha, my heroine, is dreamy, sweet on the outside and lively on the inside.

She lives in her own world, where all people are good, where there is no evil, until a certain stage in her life.

Jazz music made her feel good.

She could not imagine a day without her.

Of course, also her company of friends, her eternal support.

This film shows that terrible time, a whole era of chaos through the eyes of a teenage girl, "Polina Gukhman described her heroine in an interview with RT.

As the story progresses, it becomes obvious that the safe environment in which Masha grows up is an illusion.

The contrast between the world in which the heroine lives and the real state of affairs is revealed.

Medieval lawlessness reigns around the city, a parallel vertical of power has been built in the city, which includes men of different ages - from young courtyard hooligans to factory owners.

  • Shot from the film "Masha"

  • © kinopoisk.ru

For Palchikova, artistic understanding of that time is valuable: sketches of everyday life, memories of fashion, interiors - and everything through the prism of a teenager's perception. 

The director and screenwriter admits that while most of the story is fiction, much of the film is based on her childhood.

Therefore, the reality of what is happening is believed throughout the entire film: it is clear that the author knows perfectly well what he is talking about. 

"Masha" is not about the 1990s, not about the country, "Anastasia Palchikova explained to RT.

- "Masha" is a legend (or a fairy tale) about a girl.

Our task was to rise above time, and not plunge into it, categorically not to drag the active nature of the 1990s, but to turn them into Machine memories. "

The viewer may be surprised at the sudden end of the storyline, which tells about the heroine's childhood - why not watch the girl's life further?

But Anastasia Palchikova is right: the narrative stops exactly where it should be.

Everything has already happened, only the epilogue remains.

  • Shot from the film "Masha"

  • © kinopoisk.ru

It is important that this time the filmmakers managed to do without the romanticization of banditry.

“There is no longing for those times.

Here there is that objective reality that was in Masha's eyes at that moment, "Alexander Mizyov, the performer of the role of Andrei, told RT.

“We didn’t take and didn’t make any clichés, cliches ... We didn’t play brothers, we played people.

We played the destinies that they had.

Due to this, it seems to me that the story turned out to be easier, simpler, and thus it bribes and hooks people, "Sergei Dvoinikov, who played a bandit nicknamed Treshka, told RT.

The fate of his hero is natural and instructive.

The artist admits that he sympathizes with his character, but at the same time Treshka is unpleasant to Dvoinikov in the context of the cruel crime he committed.

In the film, the dramatic and ironic (not comic) components are balanced.

Part of the humor comes from the references.

The image of the hero Maxim Sukhanov, the leader of the gang, is successfully complemented by "boy" quotes in the spirit of the times: "Who is alive is right", "Either you or you", "Times are wrong - this is how we live."

By themselves, these phrases are unfunny, but the film is presented with the necessary amount of humor.

Another advantage of the tape is the cast.

Together with popular artists - Maxim Sukhanov, Anna Chipovskaya - promising young actors appear in the frame: Sergey Dvoinikov, Alexander Zvezdin, Alexander Mizyov, Olga Fedotova, Maxim Saprykin and others.

New faces also add realism to the footage.

It is interesting that Chipovskaya, who played the adult Masha, joined the project at the last moment.

Due to the peculiarities of the plot, the actress had to not only resemble Pauline Gukhman in appearance, but also be able to sing.

  • Shot from the film "Masha"

  • © kinopoisk.ru

“The fact is that a person without a musical background does not approach the microphone well, breathes into it the wrong way, straightens the wires wrong, looks wrong while singing - (there is -

RT

) a lot of things that cannot be learned quickly.

And then my operator Gleb Filatov suggested Chipovskaya.

At first I was afraid, I said: "Well, of course, I have no more difficulties at the opening, give me a star for the role of adult Masha."

But then we met with Anya and it became clear that everything was without options, ”Anastasia Palchikova shared her memories.

Although in this project the director made her debut as a full-length director, she is a venerable screenwriter. Therefore, the narrative is collected very well. Palchikova hid in "Masha" a lot of Chekhov's "guns", which regularly "shoot". The tape does not intrigue for no reason, and almost all small scenes in one way or another lead to key plot twists. As a result, the viewer may even be tempted to revisit the film in order to see what development of events is predetermined by insignificant remarks and chance encounters.