''Text'' (russian: Текст) is a 2019 Russian
crime drama
Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...
psychological thriller
Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting.
In terms of context and co ...
film directed by
Klim Shipenko
Klim Alekseevich Shipenko (russian: Клим Алексеевич Шипенко; born 16 June 1983) is a Russian film director, screenwriter, actor and producer.
Career
Filming in outer space
In 2021, Shipenko shot portions of a science ficti ...
, an adaptation of the best-selling novel ''
Text
Text may refer to:
Written word
* Text (literary theory), any object that can be read, including:
**Religious text, a writing that a religious tradition considers to be sacred
**Text, a verse or passage from scripture used in expository preachin ...
'' (2017) by writer
Dmitry Glukhovsky
Dmitry Alekseyevich Glukhovsky (russian: Дми́трий Алексе́евич Глухо́вский, born 12 June 1979) is a Russian author and journalist best known for the science fiction novel ''Metro 2033'' and its sequels. As a journal ...
, who adapted the novel into a movie script. The film stars
Alexander Petrov,
Ivan Yankovsky
Ivan Filippovich Yankovsky (russian: Иван Филиппович Янковский; born October 30, 1990) is a Russian actor, best known for his role in '' Rag Union''. His father is actor/director Filipp Yankovsky, and his grandfather was the ...
and
Kristina Asmus
Kristina Igorevna Asmus (russian: link=no, Кристи́на И́горевна А́смус; born ) is a Russian actress. She is known for her television role in the medical sitcom ''Interns (TV series), Interns''. She was named the sexiest Russ ...
.
''Text'' was released in wide distribution in Russia on October 24, 2019. Having recouped its budget, the film achieved box office success and received generally positive reviews from Russian film critics. The film won four
Golden Eagle Awards (2020) for
Best Motion Picture,
Best Leading Actor (Alexander Petrov), Best Supporting Actor (Ivan Yankovsky), and Best Film Editing. The film won the
Nika Award
The Nika Award (sometimes styled NIKA Award) is the main annual national film award in Russia, presented by the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Science, and seen as the national equivalent of the Oscars.
History
The award was established i ...
for Best Screenplay (Dmitry Glukhovsky).
Plot
The film tells the story of Ilya Goryunov, who ends up behind bars on a false charge. Once on the outside, he realizes that it is no longer possible to return to his former life for which is his so nostalgic and he decides to take revenge on the policeman whose fault it was that he ended up in prison. As a result of their meeting, Ilya ends up in possession of his enemy's smartphone and through a series of texts gradually takes his place.
Cast
*
Alexander Petrov as Ilya Goryunov
*
Ivan Yankovsky
Ivan Filippovich Yankovsky (russian: Иван Филиппович Янковский; born October 30, 1990) is a Russian actor, best known for his role in '' Rag Union''. His father is actor/director Filipp Yankovsky, and his grandfather was the ...
as Pyotr Khazin
*
Kristina Asmus
Kristina Igorevna Asmus (russian: link=no, Кристи́на И́горевна А́смус; born ) is a Russian actress. She is known for her television role in the medical sitcom ''Interns (TV series), Interns''. She was named the sexiest Russ ...
as Nina, Pyotr's girlfriend
* Maksim Vinogradov as Seryoga, Ilya's friend
* Sofya Ozerova as Vera, Ilya's ex-girlfriend
* Sonya Karpunina as travel agent
* Kirill Nagiev as Gosha
Production
Pre-production
The novel ''Text'' (
ru) by Dmitry Glukhovsky, the author of the
Metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
book trilogy, was released in 2017 and was later translated into more than 20 languages. Within a week of the release of the book, Glukhovsky received about ten offers of a film adaptation, including from
Alexander Rodnyansky
Alexander Yefymovych Rodnyansky ( uk, Олекса́ндр Юхи́мович Родня́нський, Oleksandr Yukhymovych Rodnianskyi; born July 2, 1961) is a Ukrainian film director, film producer, television executive and businessman. As a me ...
and
Timur Bekmambetov
Timur Nuruakhitovich Bekmambetov (, ; ; born June 25, 1961) is a Russian-Kazakhstan, Kazakh film Film director, director, Film producer, producer, screenwriter, and tech entrepreneur. He is best known for the fantasy epic ''Night Watch (2004 fi ...
, who wanted to make a film in the screenlife genre. Offers also came from the United States, Italy and South Korea. On October 21, 2019, Glukhovsky said that in parallel with the Russian company, the rights to the film adaptation were bought by a film company from the United States.
Filming
At the start of filming, Dmitry Glukhovsky offered director Klim Shipenko a script of ''Text'' that he already had, to which the director asked for some adjustments. Due to a busy travel schedule, Glukhovsky managed to visit the film set just a few times. He repeatedly met with the director and talked with the actors about their roles and also played a
cameo role as a metro passenger in the film.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
took place in January - March 2019. Instead of
Lobnya
Lobnya (russian: Ло́бня) is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located north west of Moscow. Population: 30,000 (1970).
History
Lobnya was founded in 1902 and granted town status in 1961.
Krasnaya Polyana in the Battle of Moscow
The Ge ...
, the town of
Dzerzhinsky, Moscow Oblast
Dzerzhinsky (russian: Дзержи́нский) is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the bank of the Moskva River, south of the city of Lyubertsy. The western part of Dzerzhinsky borders with the territory of the federal city of Mos ...
was used for filming, also shooting took place in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
and the
Maldives
Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...
. Filming in the Goryunov apartment took place in an ordinary residential building. The scene in the sewer was filmed in a real sewer in
Troparyovo-Nikulino District
Troparyovo-Nikulino District is an administrative district (raion) at the southern edge of Western Administrative Okrug, and one of the 125 raions of Moscow, Russia. The western border is the Moscow Ring Road, and the southern border is Leninsk ...
at a depth of about 10 meters. Scenes in the underground railway took place in the Moscow metro having negotiated official permission.
Kristina Asmus
Kristina Igorevna Asmus (russian: link=no, Кристи́на И́горевна А́смус; born ) is a Russian actress. She is known for her television role in the medical sitcom ''Interns (TV series), Interns''. She was named the sexiest Russ ...
also plays her heroine Nina in the eponymous production of the
Yermolova Theatre
The Yermolova Theatre (russian: Москóвский теáтр им. М. Н. Ермóловой) is a theatre company in the Tverskoy District of central Moscow. It is under the artistic direction of Vladimir Andreyev (russian: Владимир ...
.
Scenes on the streets, in the metro and on trains were shot without blocking off the area to ordinary passers-by and passengers - with the help of a half-hidden camera placed in an animal carrier.
Asked about his explicit sex scene with
Kristina Asmus
Kristina Igorevna Asmus (russian: link=no, Кристи́на И́горевна А́смус; born ) is a Russian actress. She is known for her television role in the medical sitcom ''Interns (TV series), Interns''. She was named the sexiest Russ ...
,
Ivan Yankovsky
Ivan Filippovich Yankovsky (russian: Иван Филиппович Янковский; born October 30, 1990) is a Russian actor, best known for his role in '' Rag Union''. His father is actor/director Filipp Yankovsky, and his grandfather was the ...
said: "Yeah, we shot the footage ourselves. We drank wine, we clinked glasses, and started shooting. And it's always very funny. Because the director says to you, 'Come on!' and goes out the door to drink tea. And here you are, and she's here, and you have to shoot it all. And it's like she has a husband, out there in life, and he'll see everything. It's kind of creepy, really. But I understood: either you have to believe in it, or it makes no sense to do it."
Music
Basta (rapper)
Vasiliy Mikhaylovich Vakulenko (russian: Василий Михайлович Вакуленко; born 20 April 1980), better known by stage name Basta, and also known as Noggano, is a Russian rapper, producer and radio host. In January 2023, Ukrai ...
, having watched ''Text'', wrote the song ''It’s scary to live like this'' for the film, the director of the music video is Klim Shipenko.
Alexander Petrov appears in the video in the image of Ilya Goryunov and performs the verse.
Release
The film was released in Russia by
Central Partnership
Central Partnership (russian: Централ Партнершип) is a Russian film distribution and production company founded in 1995. The distributor was acquired by Russian gas company Gazprom in 2014.
History
Central Partnership started ...
on October 24, 2019.
References
External links
*
{{Golden Eagle Award for Best Motion Picture
2019 films
2010s Russian-language films
2019 crime thriller films
2019 psychological thriller films
Russian crime drama films
Russian crime thriller films
Films about police officers
Russian vigilante films
2010s vigilante films
Films about drugs
2010s prison films
Films about stalking
Films set in Russia
2019 crime drama films
2019 thriller drama films
Films directed by Klim Shipenko