TV series of the year: “The Boy’s Word” as an anti-ideological project

TV review of the week

Choosing the most notable series of the year in December 2023 is not that difficult. A couple of months ago, domestic premieres of the year might have seemed like reasons for a heated discussion, but after the screening of the series “The Boy’s Word. “Blood on the asphalt” is nothing special to discuss.

Of course, the light did not shine on Zhora Kryzhovnikov’s creation. If you wanted, you could find TV series that were just as good, or even better. New season “Peace! Friendship! Gum!” surprised in a good way, and the praise of critics, often reminiscent of stingy but sincere male tears, in this case was absolutely to the point. However, in the adventures of the heroes of this project there is quite a lot of romance and even tenderness, which refers to the best youth films of the Soviet period. The ratings show that tin as it is will be more interesting for the local public.

“Ballet” directed by Evgeny Sangadzhiev against the backdrop of the “boys” looks like real cinema. Roles, dialogues, actors and actresses – all this can be written in capital letters and at the same time not greatly contradict the true state of affairs. But in this case, the bohemian flair apparently prevented national fame. The average viewer could well think that this is about them, and not about him, which often becomes a death sentence even for very worthy films.

After the reboot of “Daddy’s Girls” and “Happy Together,” many were ready to argue in all seriousness about the great potential of nostalgia for the calm zeros. Both the new “daughters” and the revived adventures of the Bukins do not look like helpless attempts to stir up sweet memories – in fact, they turned out to be distinct comedy projects – but neither one nor the other became a sensation. Not the best backdrop for other serial revivals, however, what if the upcoming reboots of “Molodezhka”, “Kamenskaya”, “Univer” and “Don’t Be Born Beautiful” turn out to be better?

So many copies have been broken regarding “The Boy’s Word” that it is already too late to discuss the appropriateness of such projects. The series, as they say, has reached the people, and nothing can be done about it. The network is filled with fan videos based on scenes from the film, fashionistas are looking for jackets like the “boys”, choreographers give master classes on boyish dances, and even folk groups play their versions of the main musical theme of the group “Aigel”.

There are different opinions about how funny this all is. But what’s really funny is the result of the retro hysteria that broke out. But in the end, a series with state funding, obviously filmed with the goal of, among other things, recalling the social horrors of perestroika and liberalization, in fact does not tell about how bad things used to be. We are talking here not so much about the conflict between young hooligans and those who guard law and order, but about the hacking between gangs, one of which, due to the specifics of the country, wears government uniforms. And it is precisely this situation that seems to be the reason why the eerie past has turned into an equally joyful present. Oh yes Zhora…

There was also no shortage of large federal prime ministers. There were dresses of Empress Catherine, and detective stories with a Soviet flair, and melodramas, and even mysticism. But even the most successful series of big channels resembled each other, at least in one viewer’s perception. They might have seemed interesting just for the time you were watching them. Only TV romantics could discuss them after the final credits.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29187 dated December 27, 2023

Newspaper headline:
TV series 2023: a word to the boys