Film-sensation "Don't Look Up": How the World Accepted the End of the World

A scientist and a graduate student discovered a huge new comet. This is a great success in the scientific world. But they did not expect that the calculation of the trajectory of this comet would lead to an even more sensational result. The comet should hit the Earth in six months. And then the tragedy unfolds and at the same time the comedy begins.

Political intrigues, sex scandals, the interests of transnational corporations, memes in social networks and events from the personal life of celebrities overshadow in the eyes of ordinary people the simple and unpleasant idea that all life on Earth is about to be destroyed by an approaching comet, and people will not live long... I would like to drive this idea away from myself.

Momentary and superficial vanity does not allow people to see the obvious, realistic and important. Scientists are pounding doorsteps, from popular talk shows to the Oval Office, but in vain. No matter how convincingly they prove the inevitability of a catastrophe, no one listens to them. The billionaire genius who combined the traits of Steve Jobs and Elon Musk also distracts the attention of the masses.

Of course, the film, in which, in addition to Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, is played by such stars as Meryl Streep, Timothy Chalamet, Cate Blanchett, Jonah Hill and others, could not help but excite social networks. True, opinions about him were rather contradictory.

The end of the world will be just like this

For example, musician Andrei Makarevich considered this film “brilliant”: “Finally I saw a brilliant movie - subtle, intelligent, evil, funny. I already thought - there are no more such films, only "Matrix" remained..."

Vedomosti critic Natal Serebryakova considers this picture “by far the best December premiere and film with which you can spend the New Year holidays. It is a mixture of social satire about PR technologies in the spirit of "The Tail Wags the Dog" and a parody of the movie "Armageddon" with Bruce Willis..."

Psychologist Vasily Pozdnyakov also spoke highly of the film: “Now all platforms are summing up the results and awarding titles: the worst film of the year, the most anticipated film of the year, the highest-grossing film of the year. All this is a complete ge, which you can hardly pay attention to. Blog readers are hungry for something smart. And now there is a film for them.

If the End of the World comes, then in about the same way as in the film. People will continue to think about the number of likes on social networks and be carried away by the superficial ideas of convincing speakers who know the psychology of the masses..."

Nikita Mikhalkov needs to remove a mirror replica

But journalist Dmitry Grazhevich was rather skeptical about this premiere:

“To be honest, I was interested in such a diverse assessment of Adam McKay's film Don't Look Up. Here's what I noted for myself. Compatriots who have lived in the West for more than 10 years perceived the film as the best horror film, a disaster film that they have seen (these are people of high film culture, by the way). It seems to them that the film is really scary and that it reflects the essence of the current state of the United States. They directly associate this with the fact that this is how it really is and that they all see and feel it themselves.

Film connoisseurs who live here in Russia perceived the film as an excellent satire on the end of the world genre. The Americans themselves took the film pretty cool. Probably, the truth of the eyes colitis)).

I found myself in a small circle of those who reacted negatively to the film. In general, I liked the idea and I agree with the main idea of the authors - but the quality, alas.

From the whole film, the last 10-minute part was very hooked, which is really cool, as a synthesis of high and even avant-garde satire and a disaster film. But I do not understand the main two-hour show of the parody film, or rather, it is clear that the film is weak in everything - both in the script, and in its implementation, and in the acting (may the great DiCaprio forgive me). It is difficult to call it deliberate cool infantilism, exquisite sharp satire, a parody of a modern person or a great disaster film. Well, it was not so poorly possible to show a modern person, mired in conventional unconditionality. And I am almost sure that our propagandists will use this film as a flag with stars - "look what they really are and this is not what we say, it is they who say it themselves." Maxim Kononenko, for example, laughed a lot when he watched the film.

And it's also funny to imagine how such a film would have been shot by Nikita Mikhalkov, like a mirror replica. Surely in his version, our cosmonauts on the best Rogozin ships would have performed a heroic mission, would have blown up half of space, burned the Moon to the ground, but they would have saved the Earth, while they themselves would have died in the name of everything and everyone. No, only one female doctor who participated in the great expedition would have survived and landed on the fresh Saratov arable land by parachute. And tractor drivers would have met her (well, such a movie homage to Gagarin). And our president (played by Nikita Sergeevich) would have married her at the end of the film..."

Playwright Marina Ptushkina agrees with Grazhevich:

“The film is on a topical topic, the idea is good. but it is weak in many ways. With pleasure I looked at my adored DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence. The relevance of the topic does not yet guarantee against artistic failure..."