The debut film “Summer Between Us” told about the happy 90s

Young filmmakers filmed a love story against the backdrop of the Soviet Empire style

Before the premiere of the debut film “Summer Between Us” by Yuri Sharov, the lead actress Anfisa Chernykh said that now we will plunge into marshmallows. Her unexpected words were confirmed. There was an airy cloud of first love, and an unusual perception of the 1990s, and the world of childhood floating away somewhere.

25-year-old actor Vlad Prokhorov said that he practically missed that time, but the cinema gave him this chance. “The Summer Between Us” was shot mainly by a generation of filmmakers who were familiar with the “dashing 90s” more from the stories of their parents, films of that time, and the myths that were later born around them. The result was a kind of “La La Land” or something like the Soviet-Romanian hit of the 70s “Songs of the Sea”, where Natalya Fateeva and Dan Spataru starred. “The Summer Between Us” cannot be called a musical. As Yuri Sharov said, the film is reminiscent of Soviet classics with musical inserts. Getting to work, he set the group on course for the Moulin Rouge in the sanatorium, and everything immediately became clear to everyone. The film features hits of the 90s, songs by the groups “Spleen” and “Chizh & Co.” Vlad Prokhorov and Anfisa Chernykh sing themselves.

Screenwriter and producer Ashot Kazaryan, who worked with Yuri Sharov on his short films and the documentary project “Krasnodar. From game to game,” recalled that their new picture took seven years to create due to the pandemic and subsequent events. Initially it was called “About Love”, like Sergei Solovyov, whose influence is also felt – “Tender Age” and “One Hundred Days After Childhood”.

Events take place in the summer of 1999. The main character Sasha spends the classic “last summer of childhood” in a sanatorium with his parents, where their longtime friend Misha works. This is a wonderful time on the threshold of independent life. The 90s in cinema are usually a tough time with crime and poverty. And here is the golden time. It seems that this is where “Old Man Hottabych” was filmed, although this is an illusion. The Black Sea health resort, as it happens in the movies, was found in Moscow. And traces of the Stalinist Empire style are in another Sochi sanatorium, with which screenwriter Ashot Kazaryan has childhood memories. The filmmakers tried to capture the elusive beauty of timelessness. Animated screensavers are like still images of a bygone era.

At the sanatorium, Sasha instantly meets people his age and meets the girl of his dreams. Polina is a little older and conducts aerobics classes with vacationers on the beach. Young people take part in the musical play “Orpheus and Eurydice,” staged by the colorful cultural worker Fyodor Semenovich (a memorable acting performance by Sergei Stepin). He immediately appreciated Sasha’s musical abilities and gave him the role of Orpheus. Polina became his Eurydice. But the girl’s heart still needs to be won. She has completely different interests. She is independent and has an adult man. And Sasha doesn’t even know who he is.

The manager of the sanatorium, Uncle Misha, was played by Pavel Maikov, who has recently been lucky in the roles of “so-so fathers.” His role is demonic and comic. He is just some kind of superman, an insidious tempter, not a very picky person, ready to even burn down a theater for money. The scenes with his accomplices are naive and funny and so little reminiscent of the showdowns of the 90s. At the same time, Misha is sympathetic, helps Polina, who was left without parents, to get a job, and finds her housing. They meet fleetingly, but she wants a serious relationship.

Polina was played by Anfisa Chernykh – a graduate of GITIS, with an enviable course of “curls”, who starred in the films “The Geographer Drank the Globe Away” and “In the Cape Town Port” by Alexander Veledinsky, “Khitrovka. The Sign of Four” by Karen Shakhnazarov, the debut “Octopus” by Alexey Stepanov.

Vlad Prokhorov is a graduate of the Moscow Art Theater School, plays in Sovremennik, starred in Yolki 9, Mafia is a Family Affair, and Flood by Ivan Tverdovsky. He is a musician, and singer Sergei Zhukov came to support him on the day of the premiere, whom he will play in the feature film about the group “Hands Up!”

For the first time, Vlad composed a song on the seashore while filming with Yuri Sharov, and then recorded a video. Apparently, the atmosphere there was creative. In any case, Anfisa Chernykh recalled the filming as unforgettable days of her life. Sasha’s parents were played by Ekaterina Sutulova and Georgy Dronov, and he himself, but already matured and going through a difficult period in his relationship with his beloved, was played by Pavel Barshak. But the love for Polina has not passed, we just need to meet each other halfway, understand and forgive.