Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

Several years ago, Kyiv roads were filled with big boards advertising social slogans such as “The country lacks Oscar winners: Make Love!”

Although the correlation between the number of people in the country and the number of Oscars its film industry can win has never been proven, the reason why Ukraine has no Oscars is quite plain: hardly any quality films are being made here.

Still Ukraine keeps trying hard to win the wonderful golden statuette, regularly submitting its films for consideration by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Two previous noteworthy submissions, namely Oles Sanin’s “Mamay” (2002) and Oksana Bayrak’s “Avrora” (2006) never made it to the Academy’s shortlist. Ukraine’s latest nomination is “Illusion of Fear” – a movie based on a book and screenplay written by Oleksandr Turchynov, first deputy prime minister and a close ally of Yulia Tymoshenko. While opinions on the novel and its screen adaptation – to be released in theaters on Dec. 4 – differ, an audio version of the book is due out soon and the film is being released in two languages – Ukrainian and Russian. But the movie was submitted for an Oscar by Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism even before Ukrainian viewers had an opportunity to see it. It’s quite obvious that this extreme promotion campaign has more to do with the famous author’s connections than with the film’s redeeming qualities. The “Illusion of Fear” movie has received mixed reviews: some praise it while others slam the movie for its cliche dialogues that range from criminal slang to pompous biblical quotes and its incomprehensible plot. It tells a story of a businessman trying to make money during the troubled 1990s in the former Soviet Union. Corrupt police is after the man, trying to force him to give away his business. As a result, the film’s hero becomes somewhat schizophrenic, seeing himself as King Solomon and confusing real life with fiction.

Directed by Oleksandr Kiriyenko (“Indie”) and shot by cameraman Serhiy Mykhalchuk (“Mamay”), the film features a decent cast: Andriy Panin plays the main hero, supported by Olena Babenko, Oleksiy Petrenko, Serhiy Harmash and Oleksiy Horbunov. But no matter how well the film is promoted, it stands little chance at impressing Academy members, who have no idea who Turchynov is.

When I recall Ukrainian movies from the last few years I can’t think of anything really worth seeing. There were some strange art-house films, historical dramas, and one terrible horror movie called “Shtolnya” (2006). My point is: although films are being made in Ukraine, and clearly money is invested into them, somehow directing, acting and dialogues are often so bad that they’re not even fit for TV, let alone the big screen. Maybe it’s time to stop trying to shoot historical disaster movies and teary dramas, and make … a witty comedy. Isn’t there enough to laugh about in Ukraine?


See other City Life stories:

• City Life with Alexandra Matoshko 10.12.08
• City Life with Alexandra Matoshko 26.11.08
• City Life with Alexandra Matoshko 19.11.08