What is good and what’s bad in the new thriller from the Russian rival Netflix?
Streaming services revolutionized the entertainment industry – it’s impossible to argue with that. Yes, their profitability is still in doubt: debt Netflix already close to the mark of $ 15 billion, this is not even hidden. But on the other hand, during their reign, online platforms freed directors and scriptwriters from the need to look back at ratings and fees. TV shows no longer need to fight for a profitable time slot, and films – for the number of sessions. Here it is – universal equality.
This fashionable trend also came to Russia, and almost without delay, but changes of a different nature began here. Online cinemas have become an alternative to a mossy TV set with its clips, self-censorship and a poor reputation among people under forty. Producers rushed to shoot “non-format”, which had long been dreamed of. So appeared overloaded with sex “Keepers”, “In a cage” with swearing Priluchny, topical “House arrest” and, of course, the most current series of the year – “Epidemic”. By inertia, almost each of these projects then still got to TV, but in a cropped, compromise version. It is clear that these shows were filmed primarily for a progressive Internet audience. Well, now the service Premier offers her a postmodern thriller where the motives “Saws” mixed with children’s songs of the Soviet era.
The young Muscovite Cyril life did not work out. Firstly, he works as a call center operator at the Adult Boutique, and this is with an incomplete medical background. Secondly, his girlfriend is sleeping with their common boss and doesn’t even hide this very much. And thirdly, on his birthday, Cyril, along with his colleagues, becomes a captive of some maniacs who call themselves “Parental Control”. Some “Mom” and “Dad” locked the poor fellow in a mined office and forced to perform absurd, and sometimes extremely cruel tasks – from dancing round naked to chopping off fingers. At the same time, sadists know all the personal secrets of call center employees and reveal them during the game.
Agatha Christie invented the formula “sinners trapped” eighty years ago in her “Ten Little Indians”. Since then, dozens of films and television series have been tailored according to her patterns: from the comic “Evidence” to bloody Mind Hunters or for example psychedelic “Cuba”. Or all the same “Saws”, especially the second. However the creators Call Center they say that they primarily focused on another work – Lost.
The Russian project borrowed a structure from the work of Abrams, Lindelof and Cuse: in each episode there are two storylines, one of which is the recollection of one of the heroes. And just like in Lost, these flashbacks turned out to be bright and not very believable. Either by chance, or according to the plan of the maniacs (this is not completely clear), the Moscow sex shop gathered in its call center the most unlucky people in the country. One was recruited by the Islamist radicals, the other turned out to be the illegitimate son of a paranoid oligarch, the third voluntarily surrendered herself to slavery to save her daughter – and so on. In all stories, the leitmotif of unfreedom is easily read. In fact, each of the participants in the brutal game was a hostage even before he got into the mined office. Someone in the literal sense, someone in the figurative: a hostage of circumstances, a hostage of prejudice, even a hostage of his own body. And, of course, only after going through painful trials can they truly free themselves … Or not. In general, everything is classic.
However, the Call Center is not too intrusive with its message, because it is primarily an ironic thriller. It is ironic, not comedic. Black humor does not manifest itself in specific gags, but in the absurdity of situations, the reactions of the characters and the general tone of the narrative. Not all heroes were given a bright past, and therefore almost anecdotal archetypes are adjacent to conditionally worked out personalities in the office. Glamorous fool Yana, her girlfriend, lackey, Sonia (of course, wearing glasses), oversized and always sweaty Vadik, balding family man Zhenya – all as if from the horrors of the eighties and nineties. Actors ideally fall into character types and act in the best traditions of the genre. After all, all this is a buffoonery, a motley mixture of American stamps and national flavor. By the way, the Call Center is fine with him. The process of execution is framed by a matinee in a kindergarten with all the characteristic attributes: contests, lisping teachers and Soviet songs, which in the context of what is happening are more sinister than ever.
“Mom” and “Papa”, represented by pixel blanks, turned out to be not as colorful as the famous Billy doll from “Saw”, but they keep the level. Especially “Mom” with her diminutive and affectionate appeals – they sound both annoyingly and creepy. However, the disclosure of the essence of “Parental Control” is frankly disappointing. It feels like the creators of the series either played up with the deconstruction of the genre, or simply stalled and came up with a denouement at the last moment. But the second option is hard to believe – and besides, there is hope that the answers to many questions will appear in the second season.
Although it is likely that there is no double bottom in the series: the Call Center often seems smarter than it really is. If we discard all flirting with the genre and ancient cliches, which many viewers may simply not notice and not appreciate, then there will be a regular thriller, very similar to “Saw”. Only here the attractions in it are not so inventive, there is little blood, and the actors are desperately replaying. In addition, a significant part of the plot revolves around a love triangle with the participation of Cyril, his ex and boss. And if you don’t even have a basic sympathy for any of them – and the probability of this is great – the viewing will become much more painful. Of course, you can root for other characters, but they no longer have much screen time. And some of them are generally pushed into the background immediately after flashbacks, as if played cards. And there’s a whole carriage of logical holes: if it weren’t for the perfect set of circumstances, the plan of the maniacs from Parental Control could go to hell many times.
However, for all its shortcomings, Call Center is an outstanding project by the standards of Russian TV shows. And just a confident middling by the standards of world streaming. In some places it can infuriate, but on the whole it perfectly entertains. Moreover, during the quarantine period it’s best to look at the poor fellow, whose isolation is much worse.
