The horror film "The Witch of Konotop" directed by Andrii Kolesnyk, which premiered at the Odesa International Film Festival, was released in Ukrainian cinemas. Expectations were high, but the film received mixed reviews, mostly negative. Film critic Ihor Kromph decided to give his assessment to the film and tell whether it is worth spending time on this film.
The plot of the film has nothing to do with the novel of the same name by Hryhoriy Kvitka-Osnovyanenko. It is based on a modern meme about Konotop witches cursing the Russian invaders, which arose at the beginning of the war. The idea of expanding this meme into an hour and a half horror film turned out to be a failed attempt.
The film tells the story of the Witch (Tetyana Malkova), who is in love with former soldier Andriy (Taras Tsimbalyuk). Her love forces her to abandon magic, but after a tragedy - the death of Andriy - the Witch returns to her dark deeds to take revenge on the Russians. The "Predator" style plot is typical of horror, where a group of soldiers faces a mystical horror. However, in "The Witch of Konotop" the situation is reversed: the Witch is a positive character, and the military - the antagonists.
Director Andriy Kolesnyk and screenwriter Yaroslav Wojciešek chose a scenario where the negative characters are the military, and the Witch gets the role of a brave heroine. However, the revelation of the characters is superficial. The audience does not learn details about the Witch's magic or her enemy Morok, which only reinforces the impression of the film's inferiority.
Russian soldiers are presented stereotypically: a strict commander, an emperor with a red beard, a representative of "small nations", etc. The film also includes a rape and revenge storyline, which looks cynical and is, it seems, only to demonstrate the brutality of the Russian military.
The quality of the special effects, which are at the level of cheap scenery and meager budgets, is especially disappointing. On the other hand, scenes of violence and murder are largely left off-screen, which diminishes their impact and creates the impression of a lack of serious resources.
The finale of the film, where the Witch, pregnant with love, does not kill the commander-in-chief, looks like an inappropriate attempt to introduce sentimentality into a naive storyline. It's more like a soap opera than a horror movie.
"The Witch of Konotop" is a part of the new wave of cinema, which has already been dubbed "victory exploitation" or "kinobairaktarshchyna". These films use memes and stereotypes to create a plot without really understanding the war. So far, it appears that the Conotop Witch is an overblown wartime meme bubble. Given that the film should become part of a franchise, questions about the quality of Ukrainian cinematography remain open.
