Pavel SANAEV Павел САНАЕВ Pavel SANAEV   Russia, 2009, 87 mn  Colour, fiction

Hooked ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ На игре    Au jeu  Na igre

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Plot synopsis

Six college students have turned their video game skills into a profitable enterprise, winning enough cash to pay for next semester’s tuition and a copy of a new game from the competition’s sponsor which fries their hard drives—gifting each gamer with their specialized virtual gaming skills. As the gamers test their new marksmanship, driving, and street fighting skills in the real world, one of them lands in trouble with a group of gangsters, and his friends must come together to save him for real. Once the situation becomes less about killing frags (synthetic computer drones), and more about physically and psychologically washing the blood off their hands, the weight of Hooked surfaces. Soon the young gamers, now feeling the pull of adrenaline, find themselves recruited into an army run by a billionaire in a zeppelin-like lair who manipulates his unstoppable commandos to his benefit, pitting them against his enemies—and each other. Video gamers and action film enthusiasts will be blown away as director Pavel Sanayev takes the plot beyond a game adaptation by immersing viewers into the minds and lives of people who play video games. Best of all, Hooked maintains its sharp characterizations throughout, grounding the fantastical situation in a psychological reality that twists and turns toward its breathtaking conclusion.

 

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Commentaries and bibliography

Pavel Sanaev : Hooked (Na igre) (Parts 1 and 2, 2009 and 2010), Volha ISAKOVA, kinokultura.com, 2010

 

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Selected in the following festivals :

- Seattle International Film Festival : SIFF, Seattle (USA), 2011

- Festival "Etonnants voyageurs" à Saint Malo, Saint Malo (France), 2010

- Window to Europe Film Festival, Vyborg, Vyborg (Russia), 2009

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