2023-11-28 19:40:47
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The young beauty Ananke Areiro played the heroine who became part of the cinematic universe
In “The New Miracle” by Alexandra Strelyana, ordinary people turn into fantastic creatures with roots going deep into the earth. Actors become animated characters before our eyes, and then return to their usual state. So far the film has only a festival fate: participation in the “Message to Man”, a prize for directing at the “Amur Autumn” in Blagoveshchensk.
“The New Miracle” was born shortly before the pandemic, and there was no opportunity to show it to viewers. In the story written by Alexandra Strelyanaya, two worlds meet – people living their usual lives, and “forest brothers”, either victims of an environmental disaster, or volunteers who chose a free and wild life away from people. They live in a mound, as if walled up in it. One hero has been in the forest since infancy and managed to grow his roots into the ground. He didn’t choose anything. His mother made the choice for him. Now the forest is their home. They have left the big world and are asking questions: “Who are we? Victims? The sacrifice should not be in vain.” Mutants, as they are often called, although there is little apparent reason for this, have not seen a single person for 17 years, until a group of young guys from the “mainland” appeared in the forest.
Young Polina, one of them, meets Monke in the forest, who looks like an ordinary guy. I have to explain to my friends that he is not an enemy. Not like everyone else – these are those whom the world spat out like fish bones. That’s what they think. One hundred percent unhappy people want there to be no unhappy people.
Before our eyes, the first forest love of Polina and Monke is born. The main roles were played by the already famous actress with a fancy name and unusual appearance Ananke Areiro and debutant Vladimir Kanukhin. They are very different, just like their heroes. “You’re different,” he’ll say. And his mother will advise: “You must take this girl out of the forest. She’s a stranger.” The actors’ faces become animated in those moments when they are cramped in their usual reality and need a way out. The forest bird here resembles a sea urchin. Everything is strange, some kind of ordinary miracle. And the young man’s legs rot like carrion because he cut them. The world is ending. Soon not only fish and animals will become extinct, but also people. They can be reborn and become part of the cinematic universe, movie characters.
Alexandra Strelyanaya is a graduate of the cinematography and directing departments of the St. Petersburg University of Film and Television. Its masters were cameraman and director Dmitry Danilin and documentarian Viktor Semenyuk. She had such a bright start during her student days. Her documentary went beyond the usual with its poetry and paganism. The early “Sarafan”, based on black and white photos and rituals, stories of old women about weddings, participated in the Amsterdam IDFA festival. So many hopes were pinned on Strelyana. Then there was the play debut “Sukhodol” according to Bunin, “Sea”, “Net”, “Port”, in which one could feel the natural elements, the breath of wind and water.
In “The Sea,” two people also meet on the shores of the North Sea. They are as different as in the “New Miracle”. And they had a summer of first worries and falling in love, which are given to a person only in youth. At the end of “The New Miracle,” the Soviet hit “Grass near the House” plays for too long: “Earth in the porthole, Earth in the porthole…” For some reason, the director needed it for the apocalyptic love story in order to finally nail it in the bud.
Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29167 dated November 29, 2023
Newspaper headline: They chose the forest
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