Sweetie, you won’t believe it (2020)
original title: Zhanym, ty ne poverish
HEADS WILL ROLL AFTER THIS WILD RIDE
“
Strap yourself in as Kazakhstan brings blood, sweat, tears, and decapitation to genre cinema with the totally bonkers Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It – and trust me, sweetie isn’t the only one that won’t believe it, I’ll tell you that much.
Set over the course of one wild day, the film follows Dastan (Daniar Alshinov) a very soon-to-be-father who is starting to feel the pressure of having a child. Unable to endure the constant barrage from his wife, Dastan decides that the best thing to do is leave on a sudden fishing trip with his best buds to let off some steam. Unfortunately, that doesn’t turn out to be the best idea, go figure. Instead, the fishing trip kicks off with a series of misunderstandings and missteps that cause Dastan and his buds to go on the run from a group of small-time criminals who think they’ve done something they didn’t do. Now rather than running from his wife, Dastan is running for his life.
There are a lot of elements to enjoy here and others not so much, while there seemed to be slightly more of the latter, you can’t help but have a good time with this. The colorful aesthetic is a real beaut here and mixes perfectly with the film’s silly tone. In saying that, if you’re not a big fan of over-the-top humour then you might want to give this one a miss. There were a handful of humorous moments, but overall, the humour very rarely landed. This was probably my biggest issue with the film, I’m all for whacky ridiculous fun, but there’s a right way to do it, where it is believable ridiculousness – here it often feels unconvincing.
What really stands out here is the inventive prosthetics which add a strong level of ‘what the fuck did I just witness” to the film. Whereas the humour is forced and unconvincing, the prosthetics are the complete opposite and look freakishly real. It’s superbly executed and gives the film a fun, raw, and totally bonkers attitude which is reason enough to check it out.
The opening set-up with the two parallel stories (Dastan & buds / small-time criminals) coming together is also a really nice touch. It’s no surprise when the stories do collide, but it doesn’t matter because the lead-up is executed so well. From here on in it’s a wild and crazy ride that just keeps raising the outrageous stakes. Not everything works, there are certainly some questionable moments, but if you just let your cinematic guards down and just enjoy this for what it is then you’re going to have a good time. I can’t help but wonder what this would have played like in front of a packed cinema – damn you covid for robbing us of such an experience!
★★★☆☆
9 SEPTEMBER 2021
