2013 ‘Sorgoï Prakov, my european dream’ Directed by Rafael Cherkaski
A journalist from an Eastern European country arrives in Paris to start a tour of European capitals. His intention is to make a documentary about the European dream. Between fascination and difficulty of adaptation, Sorgoï struggles to complete his project and his expedition drives him to a devastating state of madness.
I'll be shocked if this isn't my biggest surprise of the year. How I've never heard of this is beyond me. It is truly a wonder to behold.
I put this on before bed, expecting to watch the beginning and maybe shut it off around the half hour mark. No chance of that happening. I was absolutely riveted.
I wouldn't want to give much away, but this is probably one of the best "descent into madness" films I've ever seen. And the first half hour plays fairly straight. But you can see this happy Russian tourist has something off about him. Maybe the camera strapped to his head could be the first clue.
And speaking of the Russian tourist/filmmaker, Rafael…
Unbelievably good found footager, that starts like a Borat parody and then proceedes to get darker , then Darker , then DARKER.... then JESUS CHRIST THATS DARK.
This is a very dark psychological found footage horror. I was expecting a dark comedy but instead got a grim and heavy portrayal of a mentally disturbed, alienated man descending further into madness. First half seems like a fairly straightforward trip-gone-wrong story and quite silly too, but as the film goes it becomes unpredictable and really makes you wonder of the inner roots of the lead's mental instability. Rafael Cherkaski, who also directed, gives a menacing and convincing performance as the lead character. I really enjoyed the craziness of the whole thing. One thing though that prevents me from rating it higher. It's going perfect and flawless until the last moment where you can't help but ask "why the hell is the camera there?" Still, it is a very dark and well executed film, and that makes up for my tiny issue with it.
imagine Borat + a pollackian spatter of Henry Portrait Of A Serial Killer + a slight dollop of Poughkeepsie Tapes = this absolute gem.
personally I hope we see a new extreme-FF genre, mostly because A: found footage movies feel so generic and tame these days and B: MORE GUTS! MORE FUCKING GUTS! ALL THE FUCKIN’ GUTS! SHOW ME THOSE INSIDES, YOU REPROBATES!
Well well well, what do we have here? I keep giving found footage tries, and I keep being disappointed....until now. Also known as Sorgoi Prakov, after the main character, this is the story of an Eastern European tourist recording his adventures in Paris for a documentary he wants to make. Things steadily go south for Sorgoi (played by director Rafael Cherkaski), as he runs out of money, gets victimized in Paris, and begins leaning on booze to get him through. Things get very dark from there, as Sorgoi gradually loses his mind, culminating in some quality sleaze in the back half.
I don't want to explain too much, but think Borat crossed with Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Yeah,…
Hello darkness my old friend, I have come to watch with you again. An incredibly bleak yet utterly fascinating found footage film that puts all its dollar on shock and comes out rich in reward. The film steers through rough weather to pick up a genuine exciting speed that the viewer can appreciate more with all its lush Paris surroundings and the feeling that everything we witness on the streets is real and unadulterated. A film that would sit comfortably in a double bill with BE MY CAT and another fine example of Euro found footage films taking new ideas and inspirations and making them essential watches. This nightmare disturbed me and played on my mind throughout the following days, its shocks are hard hitting and its knockout punch flattening, I dared not look away or even look outside as the promise of night time made me feel sick.
Wooow, after a glut of awful FF films that I forced myself to suffer through, I'm finally being rewarded. After this and Host, there is hope for the medium! The take that's displayed all over this film's page is the right one - it's Borat but horribly, deeply twisted. Absolutely the film The Poughkeepsie Tapes wishes it could've been. I really commend how the handheld camerawork interweaves so deeply with the downfall of Sorgoi, with the film formally collapsing in spectacular ways. After about an hour, it almost becomes illegible and unnecessarily depraved, but it completely worked with providing some form of interiority to an enigmatic character. Structure working with story is blissful. Once again, this film is genuinely unsettling…
he did the meme, he became the joker y'all!!!
big thanks to @bloodyhorrors for updating me and providing a link for this movie, this one was on my watchlist since 2016 lmao, i edited the currently poster here and forgot about this film because i couldn't find it anywhere, and when he did i wasn't able to open the site because it was blocked for me, so another big thanks to jacob aka my love for literally streaming the movie for me to watch, blessed 🖤🖤🖤
now about the movie, whoaaa!!! for the first half i thought the movie wasn't disturbing as people were calling it, but when it hit me and i finally got it ... there's another poster…
