Producer Yusup Bakhshiev and director Denis Neimand talk about the new film and Russian features of the «hard genre».
Psychologies: «Tin», apparently, the first Russian horror. And the first project of the film company Arnold & Gregor, created by you to produce exactly this kind of films — thrillers and horror. What is the peculiarity of the Russian «hard genre»?
Y. Bakhshiev: I would not call «Tin» horror. Rather, it is a psychopathological thriller — with a serial killer, an investigation. And as for our genre… In it the initially negative characters are not devoid of charm. Thriller-horror expresses, oddly enough, the mystery of the Russian soul. And it is something like this: with a person who is ready to put a pitchfork in your stomach, you can chat about spiritual hardships, have a drink. And what he then does, he will do suddenly and even unexpectedly for himself. A huge proportion of all crimes committed in Russia is, as you know, «everyday life», those same pitchforks: a normal person grabs an ax and dismembers household members. Of course, this happens in the West too, but not so often. And then, nowhere in the world do people fight with such rapture at weddings and after that do not hug with the same rapture as we do!
D. Neimand: Western genre cinema is based on Freudian foundations, and for this reason films are flat, the hero always has a Freudian motive (mother spanked inappropriately in childhood). And in Russia, motivation cannot be revealed, because it is rooted in the «subtle world» — in matters of faith, for example … For our viewers, a simple explanation is not enough, like unfair slaps in the past. You need to feel this mystery of the Russian soul and designate it in a Russian thriller or horror.
It is generally accepted that horror performs certain psychological functions: the release of negative viewer energy, psychological relaxation …
Y. Bakhshiev: Do our viewers need a release? This is a question. In our country, a person is defenseless — both before society, and before individuals, and the authorities … Therefore, the genre is not developed — there is enough horror in life. But for me, a thriller is mainly the work of the brain, a game: you can predict the course of events or not.
Cast: Alena Babenko, Mikhail Efremov, Alexei Serebryakov, Sergei Shakurov, Ivan Urgant, Renata Litvinova.