DetSAT: Keskil and sequels reviewed by Kyunnei Filippova © 2022 |
Keskil (2007, Konstantin Barashkov, Dmitrii Shadrin, Aleksei Egorov);
Keskil: Rematch (Keskil: Match-revansh, 2009, Roman Dorofeev, Dmitrii Shadrin, Aleksei Egorov);
Keskil: Heirloom (Keskil: Nasledstvo, 2013, Dmitrii Shadrin, Aleksei Egorov)
Keskil (Sakha): n. future, prospect, outlook
For several years now, Sakha auteur cinema has been gaining increasing attention at Russian and international festivals. And yet, it would not be a great exaggeration to say these works are just the tip of the iceberg for Sakha films, the overwhelming majority of which are made exclusively for local consumption, with regionally-limited distribution and a rapid payback cycle. Compared to auteur works, local film production is practically unknown to the professional and academic community outside the Sakha Republic.
The most marketable genres of films—comedies and horrors—have formed the “soil” that fosters the growth of diversity in present-day Sakha cinema. More concisely, local mainstream comedies have built the thriving, local film-goer community, along with a baseline production infrastructure, and filled it with financial resources. Sakha comedies and horror films, for example, were among the bestselling DVDs sold in local stands in the early 2000s. Currently, these films regularly break regional distribution records, leaving major international titles behind.
A great example of a local, comedy blockbuster is the Keskil trilogy—dearly loved and massively popular in the Sakha Republic, but practically unknown to outside audiences. Using these films as a basis, we will attempt to explore the specificities of Sakha mainstream comedy.
Keskil is the general title for the trilogy that includes three feature films: Keskil (2007), Keskil: Rematch (2009), and Keskil: Heirloom (2013). The project was conceived and produced by an association of young Sakha theater actors—DetSAT. The name is a pun: “detsad” is Russian for “kindergarten,” and “DetSAT” is an abbreviation for “Children of the Sakha Academic Theater.” The group launched their film production company to focus on comedy and romance films in the Sakha language.
DetSAT got its start in 2002, when a group of fresh Sakha graduates returned home from the Mikhail Shchepkin Higher Theatre School in Moscow, and joined the Platon Oiunskii Sakha Academic Theater company. The group produced their own long-running comedic stage show in the theater. At some point, Dmitrii Shadrin and Aleksei Egorov—the group's masterminds—launched a weekend comedy series, comprised of ten-minute episodes based on their short sketches, on NVK Sakha, the local broadcaster.
Meanwhile, the film industry in the Sakha Republic was rapidly developing; 2006 brought the local theatrical release of the first Sakha films targeting a wider and younger audience with the comedy, Run! (Kuot, Konstantin Barashkov, 2006), and horror Path of Death (Tropa smerti, Anatolii Sergeev, 2006). By 2007, Shadrin and Egorov realized that it was high time to make their first feature film. They suspended their contract with the broadcaster and announced that the series finale of their television program would be available in theaters. Shadrin and Egorov put together previously aired episodes, added new scenes, and released their first feature, which was screened in a local theater for no less than two months.
Following this first success, DetSAT produced two additional films in the Keskil “franchise,” and many other comedy and romance films. DetSAT also evolved; in the years that followed, young talented actors joined, and many aspiring professionals launched their careers with the group. Shadrin and Egorov left the Sakha Theater to pursue administrative careers along with acting and producing: their most recent project was a co-production with Kazakhstan.
Keskil (2007)
The trilogy’s protagonist, Keskil Petrov (Mikhail Borisov), lives with his mother (Izabella Nikolaeva) in Yakutsk. He has various misadventures whilst trying to come to know who he is through a variety of activities, from dancing to law enforcement. One summer he meets a girl, Vera (Irina Okhlopkova), and falls in love. But in the autumn, Vera returns to her village, leaving Keskil heartbroken. His savvy friend, Vitiok Druzianov (Dmitrii Shadrin), devises a number of schemes for Keskil, including traveling to Vera’s village to propose to her. After organizing the wedding, and taking money from both Keskil’s mother and Vera’s family to carry it out, Vitiok flees. Keskil is beaten and returns to Yakutsk, where he joins the army. Upon completing his time in the army, he returns home and bumps into Vitiok, who is now homeless.
The film is a compilation of gags packed into a coming-of-age adventure. As for the film’s stylistic choices, DetSAT tried to strike a balance between old-school theatrical sketches and the stand-up comedy shows gaining popularity in Russia. Technically, the film is basically a home video with MiniDV quality; most of the scenes and dialogues are improvised, and the sound was recorded live on set with a stage microphone taped to an extendable paint brush pole. Despite the technical flaws, this first film is charming with its simplicity, naïve references, detailed realia of the time, and somewhat relaxed attitude.
Keskil: Rematch (Keskil: Match-revansh, 2009)
The second film in the trilogy starts with Keskil being hit by a car: while returning from yet another job interview, he sees Vera, becomes distracted, and is hit. After the accident, disoriented and desperate, Keskil runs to the park, where he meets his old friend, Vitiok. Vitiok talks Keskil into going back to Vera’s village and trying to win her over. The film then takes on the eternal “city vs. village” dichotomy (quite typical for films made in Sakha—a community still internalizing the challenges of urbanization). Keskil must challenge Vera’s current love interest, Alban (Igor Govorov), and his friend (Stepan Poriadin). The film turns into a proper rom-com with a runaway bride, a happy ending, and a final plot twist.
Initially intended for theatrical release, the second film has much better video and sound quality, and more thoughtful use of music. At the same time, the dialogue and structure of the film preserve the original’s improvised, light nature.
Following Keskil: Rematch, the DetSAT crew worked in theater, studied filmmaking, and produced other comedies, such as Free Boturs (Konul boturdar, 2010), Anniversary (Iubilei, 2011), and Erchim and Kim (Erchim uonna Kim, 2013).
Keskil: Heirloom (Keskil: Nasledstvo, 2013)
Keskil is now happily married to Vera and expecting his first child when he finds out that a distant relative has died, leaving him a fortune. Keskil and Vitiok travel to a remote district to claim the inheritance, but when they arrive, they find out that Keskil is not the sole heir: he will have to share the money with his cousin, Kencheri (also played by Mikhail Borisov). To receive the inheritance, the cousins, Vitiok, and Kencheri’s sidekick, Samba (Prokopii Ivanov), will have to overcome obstacles, learn to sacrifice, and work together as a team.
This script, written by novice scriptwriter Maria Nakhodkina, relies on another comedy trope—a long-lost sibling and contrasting twins. The visuals and sound quality were markedly improved in this film, which was enhanced with trademark animation and camera effects by Viktor Lee-Fu—whose effects were also seen later in such films as Attaboy (Uol oghoto, Vladimir Munkuev, 2017) and Cheke (Viktor Lee-Fu, 2018).
It is unclear if this film was meant to be the last in the Keskil series, but tragically, the lead actor, Mikhail Borisov, took his own life in 2014, at the age of 33.
Keskil is a good case study of the evolution of Sakha comedies. Along with conventional physical and situational humor, these films reflect their creators’ roots in the Sakha theatrical school, which, in turn, was enriched by the authentic and versatile Sakha oral tradition (from epic to lighter folk genres). All Sakha comedies are tightly tailored to the cultural background of the local audience. Their comic vibe is based, first of all, on playing with local realia, archetypes, and memes. Keskil has also become a meme; recently, the famous “deer hunter dance” was paid tribute to in Dance with Me (Miigin kytta üngküülee, Nikandr Fedorov, 2021)—a work by a new generation of filmmakers.
DetSAT and other independent companies produced canonical rom-coms (#love [ #taptal], 2014; Flowers [Sibekki], 2015), criminal comedies (Attaboy [Uol oghoto], 2017; Agent Mambo, 2019), and have toyed with works based in alternative realities (Free Boturs [Köngül booturdar], 2010; Heroes: Battle for the Cup [Geroi: Bitva za kubok], 2011; Cheke, 2018). Almost all of these films have one thing in common—the joy of recognizing familiar faces (in many cases, DetSAT actors) and comedic situations that appear in a series of sketches and gags. At the same time, structure, script, and dialogue are often supplementary. A limited range of character actors migrate from film to film, which, in fact, turns Sakha comedy into one large metafilm. The genuinely contextual nature of this metafilm, on the one hand, ensures an invariably warm welcome from the local audience, and on the other, considerably limits the scope of its functioning elsewhere.
With the development of Sakha cinema, however, audiences are also changing—they are becoming increasingly sophisticated; besides, local filmmakers must now compete for Zoomers with global platforms like Netflix. Looking back, it is exciting to see how far Sakha cinema has come, both technically and artistically, but it is even more exciting to imagine what lies ahead or, to put it in Sakha language, what is the keskil (“future”) of Sakha cinema.
Kyunnei Filippova
Keskil, Sakha/Russia, 2007
Color, 99 min
Directors: Dmitrii Shadrin, Aleksei Egorov, Konstantin Barashkov
Scriptwriters: Roman Dorofeev, Alexander Ivanov
DoP: Semen Amanatov
Cast: Mikhail Borisov, Irina Okhlopkova, Dmitrii Shadrin, Izabella Nikolaeva, Aleksei Egorov, Fedot Lvov
Producers: Dmitrii Shadrin, Aleksei Egorov, Konstantin Barashkov
Production: TuimaFil’m, DetSAT
Premiere: May 2, 2007 (Yakutsk)
Keskil: Rematch (Keskil: Match-revansh), Sakha/Russia, 2009
Color, 93 min
Directors and Scriptwriters: Roman Dorofeev, Dmitrii Shadrin, Aleksei Egorov
DoP: Ivan Semenov
Cast: Mikhail Borisov, Irina Okhlopkova, Dmitrii Shadrin, Izabella Nikolaeva, Stepan Poriadin, Igor Govorov, Aleksei Egorov
Producers: Dmitrii Shadrin, Aleksei Egorov
Production: DetSAT, STS-Yakutsk
Premiere: October 1, 2009 (Yakutsk)
Keskil: Heirloom (Keskil: Nasledstvo), Sakha/Russia, 2013
Color, 86 min
Directors: Aleksei Egorov, Dmitrii Shadrin
Scriptwriter: Maria Nakhodkina
DOP: Viktor Lee-Fu
Cast: Mikhail Borisov, Dmitrii Shadrin, Prokopii Ivanov
Producers: Aleksei Egorov, Dmitrii Shadrin
Production: DetSAT, Sakhafil’m
Premiere: August 22, 2013 (Sakha)
DetSAT: Keskil and sequels reviewed by Kyunnei Filippova © 2022 |