But it definitely wasn't as bad as some of the reviews are saying. I think some of the reviews are being sensational in how bad it is, but I guess to each his own.
Overall, movie is about a guy who works as an advertising genius and decides to leave all the money and glamor behind when he starts realizing that his deeds are leading to people being hurt by his actions. While in hiatus from the city life on a farm in the Russian countryside (did I mention this is a Russian movie?) he has some sort of revelation about a ritual that came to him in a dream. After he performs it, he finds himself back in the city only to see physical representations of how advertisements and marketing are sucking the will power out of people, becoming slaves to the system (this is where most of the trailer footage comes from). When he figures out what he's seeing, he ends up formulating a plan of using the same tactics used to turn people into cattle to crush the forces that enslave human will...but at what cost?
Overall, I have to say, there's lots of loose ends, subplots with no payoff, a relationship play that could've been left on the cutting room floor and many other elements that sort of add too much noise to the main story, almost to the point that there IS no main story, just a series of events that finally lead to the credits rolling. However, I was entranced by the randomness of the movie overall and found it's quirkiness charming. It's that same randomness that caused the hate-fest on the movie, so knowing this, it's not as bad as reviews say, but it's definitely noticeable.
However, I firmly believe that this movie was the victim of post production tinkering. Even comparing trailer 1 to 2, you can tell that even the people making the trailer were trying to shift the advertising campaign so as not to completely anger it's possible audience after seeing the movie. This begs the question: What was the original story? And why does Sydow (who never has any direct contact with the protagonist and apparently has no reason to be in the movie at all) get vaporized by lightning? This one scene alone speaks volumes as to how editing can kill a movie. Even if the original movie they shot wasn't good, editing that story into a completely different one cannot save the movie and in this case, although it was quirky in it's weirdness, completely destroyed any sense of completeness.
It's not unwatchable, but it's certainly far from being anything coherent.
Overall, movie is about a guy who works as an advertising genius and decides to leave all the money and glamor behind when he starts realizing that his deeds are leading to people being hurt by his actions. While in hiatus from the city life on a farm in the Russian countryside (did I mention this is a Russian movie?) he has some sort of revelation about a ritual that came to him in a dream. After he performs it, he finds himself back in the city only to see physical representations of how advertisements and marketing are sucking the will power out of people, becoming slaves to the system (this is where most of the trailer footage comes from). When he figures out what he's seeing, he ends up formulating a plan of using the same tactics used to turn people into cattle to crush the forces that enslave human will...but at what cost?
Overall, I have to say, there's lots of loose ends, subplots with no payoff, a relationship play that could've been left on the cutting room floor and many other elements that sort of add too much noise to the main story, almost to the point that there IS no main story, just a series of events that finally lead to the credits rolling. However, I was entranced by the randomness of the movie overall and found it's quirkiness charming. It's that same randomness that caused the hate-fest on the movie, so knowing this, it's not as bad as reviews say, but it's definitely noticeable.
However, I firmly believe that this movie was the victim of post production tinkering. Even comparing trailer 1 to 2, you can tell that even the people making the trailer were trying to shift the advertising campaign so as not to completely anger it's possible audience after seeing the movie. This begs the question: What was the original story? And why does Sydow (who never has any direct contact with the protagonist and apparently has no reason to be in the movie at all) get vaporized by lightning? This one scene alone speaks volumes as to how editing can kill a movie. Even if the original movie they shot wasn't good, editing that story into a completely different one cannot save the movie and in this case, although it was quirky in it's weirdness, completely destroyed any sense of completeness.
It's not unwatchable, but it's certainly far from being anything coherent.