For the second year in a row, MIFF and VGIK-Debut present audience premieres in the affectionate and rosy coming-of-age genre. In 2023, “Ada” met the public – a tender ode to Stanislav Svetlov’s growing up. As part of the current show, the baton of the first discoveries of a fragile age is being taken over by the dramedy “The Worst of All” by Sasha Karmaeva – a story about victory over bullying and the search for dialogue with oneself.
Still from the film “The Worst of All”
Ksyusha Subbotina (Rimma Latysheva) had the opportunity to experience the most uncomfortable school nightmare in reality: while drying out for a concert for graduates, the student could not even open her mouth while her friend Slava (Rina Nazarova) carefully and diligently plucked the strings of the ukulele. The hooting of her classmates, mixed with particularly “witty” remarks about the complexion of the unlucky performer, was interrupted by her sworn enemy and the most popular girl in school (yes, that same type) Baranova (Sofia Arzhanykh): Ksyusha is not allowed to perform and may not waste time on rehearsals. The defeat has to be multiplied by two or even raised to a power, because, firstly, Pogulyaev (Mikita Voronov) was sitting in the hall, and secondly, today is Subbotina’s birthday.
Still from the film “The Worst of All”
Even if the tenth grader was not going to start a new life, based on the dates in her personal growing up calendar, she still had to. In order not to be upset by offensive call signs, Ksyusha decides to turn “Zhirukha” into a recognizable brand on the Internet: she starts WokTok (or some similar analogue of an application with short videos) and boldly reports about her failures in order to prove to everyone around her, and most importantly , to yourself: bullying is not a problem! However, Subbotina follows a rather ancient strategy for surviving in high school: if you can’t be beautiful, all that remains is to be funny as best you can.
Still from the film “The Worst of All”
First of all, the lead actress Rimma Latysheva manages to be funny, spontaneous and crazy organic – the debutante artist cures with her charm the script’s straightforwardness and not the most outstanding romantic line – sometimes reciprocal, sometimes not very much, then, perhaps, still love. Ksyusha decides to move towards the end of the quarter, either to resist, or to be eternally “weak” with herself – she is not afraid to play the fool and speak loudly when asked to remain silent. But most of all, she tries to go beyond and push the stereotypes of the types that crowd the school disco: nerds, excellent students, skateboarders and perfect girls graduate from school every year. The authors of the film also try to revive characters who have come to life hundreds of times.
Just as the intonation whispers, “The Worst of All” is the debut feature film for both director Sasha Karmaeva and screenwriter Lika Pankratova: the film as a whole meets all the usual categories of first films. The story was sincere, personal and synonymous – you can see nods to both “Mean Girls” and “Sweet Frances” (she once bowed to “Bad Blood” by Leos Carax). And at the same time, “The Worst of All” is a film, albeit brutally charming, but not complex, built from bricks according to all the precepts of the genre. Another thing is surprising: even today, a decent dramedy that resonates with the target audience does not look like a symptom of the stable state of the film industry, but a rare graduation celebration for all imperfect graduates.
Watch the film “The Worst of All” at the Moscow International Film Festival in the “Russian Premieres” competition
Text:
Nastasya Gorbachevskaya
