Underplayed Gems

The Inhabited Island (2008)

The Inhabited Island poster
Original title
Обитаемый остров
Directed by
Fyodor Bondarchuk
Genre
action film, adventure film, science fiction film, dystopian fiction
Country
Russia
Runtime
1h 55m
Rated
12
Rating
5.3 of 10 from 113 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A space explorer crash-lands on a post-apocalyptic planet ruled by a totalitarian regime that brainwashes its citizens. He gets pulled into the planet's political struggles.

tensebleakaction-packedsuspensefulvisually ambitiousdystopianfast-pacedcerebral

What happens

Dark Planet (original Russian title: Обитаемый остров, romanized: Obitaemyy ostrov, lit. 'The Inhabited Island') is a two-part Russian science fiction film directed by Fyodor Bondarchuk. The film was adapted by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko from the 1969 novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky of the same Russian name, published in English as Prisoners of Power; a part of the Noon Universe series. It is a dystopian story set on post-apocalyptic planet Saraksh, ruled by a totalitarian regime that brainwashes its citizens. Maxim Kammerer, a space explorer from Earth, crash-lands on Saraksh and becomes involved in the planet's everboiling politics. The movie was released as two separate films, in December 2008 and April 2009, respectively. The film was met with mixed reviews. It was praised for its visual style, social commentary and being faithful to the original novel, but also criticized for its direction, editing, and casting. Dark Planet was made with one of the largest budgets for Russian cinema at the time and despite huge box office earnings and DVD sales the movie was considered a financial disappointment. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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