On May 18, Okko premiered two episodes of the "Volunteer Playlist". The series is based on the book of the same name, which was written by Mrshavko Shtapich (Artem Lyashenko). He also prepared the script for the film adaptation. The director was Maxim Sveshnikov ("Container", "Hack bloggers").
Starring Ivan Yankovsky ("Fisher"), Shamil Khamatov ("BIHAPPY"), Dmitry Chebotarev ("Eva, give birth!") and others.
2011. 25-year-old Misha Shtapich wakes up on the street after another binge. He learns that a search party is looking for him. Misha decides to join the volunteers, who, after discovering Shtapich, go to look for the missing child. From that moment on, he starts spending all his time on volunteering. For him, this is not only an opportunity to help people, but also an attempt to change himself and his attitude to life.
More than 40 thousand children disappear in Russia every year. Volunteers are doing a great job trying to make up for the inaction of public services. It would seem that the series will emphasize this problem, speak out about it, but no — no social criticism has been prepared. There is also no answer to the question why children run away from home so often, there are no attempts to say that no one cares about the problem.
Involuntarily, comparisons with other works on this topic suggest themselves. For example, in "Dislike" by Andrey Zvyagintsev, a child disappears because of parents who turn their son's life into hell with their divorce. But in the "Volunteer Playlist" children disappear just like that. Sometimes it seems that now it will be found out what really happened, but all the screen time is devoted to the detective component and Yankovsky's swearing. The tagline "Shit happens" would suit the series — they say, people disappear, I feel sorry for them, but what can I do about it.
Another problem of the series is the lack of connection with reality. This is strange, because the author of the book (and the script) took part in the search. It would seem that he would be able to bring a lot of small and important details to the screen, but this did not happen. In fact, the characters live in a fictional place and at a fictional time. It seems that the actions take place in the province, and then it is said that the detachment works in Moscow and the Moscow region. It is also unclear what the volunteers do in their free time. There is no social context.
The impersonality of the squad itself is also surprising. The original book tells about "LizeAlert", but this (and any other) name does not appear in the series. As a result, incomprehensible people in an incomprehensible time and place are looking for the missing. Gradually it becomes clear what the point is: it's easier to entertain that way.
The two episodes are arranged the same way, and there is no doubt that the rest of the series will look the same. A missing person, searches are underway, Misha swears with someone or falls in love with someone, the missing person is found (alive or dead), volunteers go home.
For the TV series "The Volunteer's Playlist", the disappearance of children is an easy way to evoke emotions in the viewer, and the search is an opportunity to play a detective scene. All this looks at least ugly. Especially when you consider the conditions in which Russian volunteers work.
Such an attitude to human destinies and reality is reminiscent of the film "In the sun, along the rows of corn" by Sarik Andreasyan. The story of the pilot who managed to land a falling plane in a field of corn was perverted and spoiled by an incompetent director. The "Volunteer Playlist" is, of course, more talented, but it also speculates on other people's exploits and sufferings.
The scenario assumes that Misha is a sharp charismatic who causes people both irritation and interest at the same time. At the same time, the charisma of the main character is completely based on Yankovsky. Misha himself is a set of stamps. This is a young alcoholic reading Zizek — a violent intellectual in the spirit of a St. Petersburg communal apartment. He is both a sociopath Sherlock Holmes, and an anti-systemic Rambo, and a sloppy Columbo.
Unfortunately, the hero has nothing but Yankovsky's charisma. Stamps never add up to a personality. When he talks about his divorce from his wife, it becomes clear how empty both he and his biography are: she "went to the left", I "drank and also went to the left". As in the case of missing people, in this series everything comes down to the will of fate, fate, just troubles that happen by themselves.
The pretentious tagline "In search of others and yourself" turns out to be false. Considering that Misha starts helping volunteers the same day he finds out about their existence, he definitely cannot be called an insensitive person. That is, the story of overcoming oneself and changing attitudes towards people does not work — the hero is positive from the very beginning, just spoiled. During the season, he is forced to struggle only with alcoholism. But if finding yourself is giving up the bottle, then fine.
"The Volunteer's Playlist" is a series that takes on an important and difficult task, but does not cope with it. The rejection of details destroys credibility, and ignoring the social context turns each episode into a detective story. In the end, it all comes down to the charming scoundrel around whom the plot is built. If you like it, then the series will be watchable. For a story about volunteers, such a condition looks like a sentence.
