The first two episodes of the fantastic thriller Karamora were released on the START video service.
The director and one of the producers of the project was Danila Kozlovsky, who previously shot the tapes "Coach" and "Chernobyl".
He also played the main role in the film.
Daria Balabanova, Philip Yankovsky, Andrey Smolyakov, Dmitry Chebotarev and other actors are also involved in the series.
The philologist and historian Alexander Fomin, who had a hand in the creation of the popular television series The Eighties, worked on the script.
The action of "Karamora" takes place in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century.
According to Danila Kozlovsky, the authors of the project sought to take into account the real historical events of that time and, in accordance with them, introduce real politicians and cultural figures into the plot.
So, Pyotr Stolypin, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Felix Yusupov, Leo Tolstoy and other famous personalities appear in the tape.
However, the viewer is shown an alternative history of the country, which is significantly different from the real one thanks to the imagination of filmmakers.
In the world of "Karamora" there are vampires, many of them are in power.
The main character is an anarchist nicknamed Karamora.
He learns about the existence of ghouls and decides to fight them in every possible way, despite the incommensurable possibilities: monsters have colossal power.
In one of the fights, Karamora loses her lover and friends.
He tries to spread information about vampires and get the support of the authorities, but almost no one believes him.
Then the hero himself gathers a team and looks for a way to deal with the monsters.
Karamora does not yet know that his beloved has become one of them.
© Shot from the series "Karamora"
First of all, "Karamor" captivates due to the high-quality study of the universe, in which real events are intertwined with fictional ones, and socialism and science - with mysticism.
“On the one hand, the turn of the 19th-20th centuries is the time of symbolism and modernity, the heyday of mystical and esoteric teachings, when stories about ghosts and vampires become popular, almost at every party-salon they tell fortunes, summon the devil and communicate with the “green fairy”.
On the other hand, it is a period of scientific progress and materialism.
Darwin, Marx and Bakunin paint a reality devoid of metaphysics.
A decadent poet and a Socialist-Revolutionary bomber could be friends and rent one room for two, and sometimes mysticism and socialism combined very bizarrely in the soul of even one person.
I wanted to collide these two realities in my script,” says Alexander Fomin.
We can say with full confidence that he managed to realize his plans - and quite organically.
The scenario of "Karamora" affects many characters, locations and subplots.
The elaboration of scenery, costumes and props further contributes to immersion in the world of Karamora.
So, the shooting took place in more than 200 locations in Moscow, the Moscow region, the Leningrad region and Tbilisi.
The project team also worked in old estates and mansions, and about 700 costumes were made for the actors.
Adhering to the atmosphere of the beginning of the 20th century throughout, filmmakers also demonstrate innovative solutions that emphasize the originality of the universe.
They can be traced both in clothing and in technical inventions: with their help, the authors of the series tried to show the significance of scientific progress for the observed historical period.
© Shot from the series "Karamora"
Filmmakers managed to find an original approach to depicting vampires. In their normal state, they correspond to the standard ideas familiar to viewers from many other film projects - they look like people, live long, do not age, are afraid of silver and fire. However, the authors of "Karamora" paid a lot of attention to the theme of vampire death and showed it as frankly as possible, without fear of disgusting the audience. So, the series shows what happens to the body of a monster as a result of various attempts to kill it. The process of restoring a badly wounded or starved vampire, also shown in close-up, is also interesting.
The story of Karamora's beloved, Alina, raises practically no questions.
Already in the first episodes, she has to go through a serious transformation from a fragile but brave girl who intends to fight monsters to a vampire who is afraid to kill, but after certain events she crosses the line.
Prince Runevsky, played by Philip Yankovsky, is also remembered - a century-old vampire who has seen everything, calm and ironic, as well as the aristocrat Svechnikov (Andrey Smolyakov), just as experienced and wise, but embarrassed by his age.
© Shot from the series "Karamora"
Unfortunately, Karamora himself is not interesting at the same time.
He, like some previous heroes of Danila Kozlovsky, is highly idealized.
The anarchist is so attractive that when looking at him, the clothes of the beloved fall off by themselves.
The former girl on Karamoru seems to be angry, but longing for the past is read in her eyes.
Even a random passer-by reaches out to the hero to at least touch him, and a new acquaintance quickly gets drunk, pesters and, having stumbled upon a sluggish refusal, rapes him.
Naturally, Karamora is good not only in relationships with women.
He is cunning, determined and invincible, fights like James Bond and easily copes with the crowd alone.
At some point, it may seem to the viewer that there is an inflection in this image.
Probably, realizing this, the filmmakers decided to reduce the degree of ideality and show that the hero can not do everything: he does not know how to ride a bicycle.
Self-admiration is also noticeable in the production of the picture, which sometimes does not benefit her at all.
In general, the series is quite dynamic: it has action, humor, feelings, and reflections on philosophical topics.
Much attention is paid to discussions about social problems that are relevant today.
However, in many scenes with Danila Kozlovsky, the narrative begins to sag a lot.
Instead of bright events, the anarchist's pathetic propaganda speeches and his lengthy monologues sound from the screen, sometimes provoking the viewer to laughter with their content, where such a reaction, most likely, was not expected.
An attentive viewer will not hide the desire of Kozlovsky to sometimes play Tarantino.
Of course, both before and after the cult director, many filmmakers showed in their films completely unrealistic rivers of blood and demonstratively cruel and inventive methods of reprisal.
Such solutions fit well into the style of the project.
However, the demonstration of Quentin's favorite female feet is also striking - intrusive and completely optional.
By the way, Ilya Naishuller (Hardcore, Nobody) was involved in the pilot series of Karamora.
Later, Kozlovsky completely reshot the series, leaving only a few episodes after his colleague.
It is possible that according to the same scenario, Naishuller had a completely different story.