This short Soviet science fiction feature takes an unusual approach which is rather daring but in this case not necessarily hugely successful. As viewers, we are thrust quite directly into events and interactions between characters in what appears to be a very different society of Earth in a far distant future, without almost any context or exposition of any kind to tell us what is going on or what we are looking at.
It's an approach that would work successfully many times and become more and more common in the science fiction literature of the years to come. But in the frame of this film of slightly over an hour, it doesn't really have the space to work. Events move fairly quickly, and we don't have time to adsorb why they are important or form any connection to the characters.
Apparently this was intended as the first in a series of films that did not get any further off the ground. Whether that was due to artistic or political failings seems to be debated. The character of Veter (meaning "wind" in Russian) does make a point of refusing a post his society and whatever seems to operate for a government in The Future want him for, and that might have struck a wrong note. Equally, it could have been the neglected plot and character development. The filmmakers may have meant to develop that in future installments, but the lack of it here could not have encouraged many to want those future installments to be make.
A few scenes that do play on what would be emotional moments seem to exist in a vacuum because the emotional background to them hasn't been built. We know a crew is stranded, but little suspense is created when that's about all we know about the situation.
On the plus side, the film does look quite good, with original=looking costumes that are different enough to be accepted as from the far future, and impressive space and alien settings. Sometimes it is charmingly out-there, such as when the conference receives the distant transmission of life-sized dancing women in silhouette.
Overall, it's interesting and commendable for its far-future setting and lack of condescension in jumping headlong into its ambitious setting and plot. But these experiments aren't all necessarily successful ones, and I can't say it was really a wrong decision not to continue the film series.
It's an approach that would work successfully many times and become more and more common in the science fiction literature of the years to come. But in the frame of this film of slightly over an hour, it doesn't really have the space to work. Events move fairly quickly, and we don't have time to adsorb why they are important or form any connection to the characters.
Apparently this was intended as the first in a series of films that did not get any further off the ground. Whether that was due to artistic or political failings seems to be debated. The character of Veter (meaning "wind" in Russian) does make a point of refusing a post his society and whatever seems to operate for a government in The Future want him for, and that might have struck a wrong note. Equally, it could have been the neglected plot and character development. The filmmakers may have meant to develop that in future installments, but the lack of it here could not have encouraged many to want those future installments to be make.
A few scenes that do play on what would be emotional moments seem to exist in a vacuum because the emotional background to them hasn't been built. We know a crew is stranded, but little suspense is created when that's about all we know about the situation.
On the plus side, the film does look quite good, with original=looking costumes that are different enough to be accepted as from the far future, and impressive space and alien settings. Sometimes it is charmingly out-there, such as when the conference receives the distant transmission of life-sized dancing women in silhouette.
Overall, it's interesting and commendable for its far-future setting and lack of condescension in jumping headlong into its ambitious setting and plot. But these experiments aren't all necessarily successful ones, and I can't say it was really a wrong decision not to continue the film series.