(Six out of Ten Stars)
Egor Abramenko’s directorial debut, Sputnik (2020) is at the very least a bold story of science fiction.
“Set in 1983, Sputnik stars Oksana Akinshina as a young doctor who is recruited by the military to assess a cosmonaut who survived a mysterious space accident and returned to Earth with a dangerous organism living inside him.[1] Alongside Akinshina, the film's cast includes Pyotr Fyodorov and Fyodor Bondarchuk.” - Wikipedia.
The first comparisons to be made when seeing the trailer for the film would be Ridley Scotts seminal film, ALIEN (1979). The trailer for Sputnik is heavy on mood and body horror with a parasitical creature attaching itself to humans. The tone and content of the trailer sat me up straight. There’s a slow building dread, which is right out of the playbook of Alien. As a fan of the (Alien) series and a sci-fi nut, I am fully aware of the fact that good science fiction is hard to come by. The trailer for Sputnik seemed to suggest that we might be receiving something special.
The film did not disappoint, and yet, it wasn’t the scary dark thriller I had hoped it would be. Sputnik feels like it could belong in the Stranger Things universe, helped in no small part by the creature design and CG effects which are painfully familiar. The film is richly photographed, with deep blacks and cool greens set within a quiet and unnerving pace. Any good monster film has a very human story interwoven within the narrative. Sputnik is no exception.
I would give Sputnik a solid six out of ten stars. It’s entertaining, thoughtful, well acted and atmospheric. Where the film falters is the creature design and the Duffer Brothers-eque storytelling. Endings (in anything) are notoriously hard to land. I’m not so sure Sputnik lands it, despite its best attempts. It is a worthy film. The critiques I have for it do not outweigh the experience of the film. It is Not to be missed.
Jaime Prater for Perfect Organism Podcast
@soundgoasunder