Once upon a time in Ukraine is a bold, bloody and fun Tarantino hommage

I've recently decided to take a breather from English languge productions and go back to my roots of watching Ukrainian films. I've randomly heard about this one through Facebook and after seeing the trailer I was immediatley hooked. Whilst Tarantino isn't one of my favorite directors, I appreciate the effort and creativity that goes into his films, being able to turn relatively simple concepts into extravagant romps of action, blood and wonderfully stylistic visuals. This film wonderfully reflects that, combining within itself a period piece, a western, a martial arts film, a revenge story and an action comedy into something that shouldn't really work, however, strangely suceeds.

So what exactly drew me into it?

To tell you the truth, I don't really know myself. I do believe it might have been a very unique style that isn't present in most European films.

However, the film works on more levels than just that...

A bit of fun trivia before that...

The movie's original title is Bezslavni kripaky (Безславні кріпаки), which is translated as The Inglorious Serfs, a reference to Tarantino's WW2 alternate history flick The Inglouris Basterds. The film's original title was supposed to be Taras Schevchenko: The First Samurai (Тарас Шевченко: Перший Самурай), which is alluded at the very ending of the film.

Let's get on with the review...

The Writing

I was expecting the writing of this film to be as insane as the promised premise. And it delivers on that. There's a plethora of quirky humor, brutal violence and oddball characters that give it a unique feel and style similar to those in the Spaghetti western genre. As I mentioned, the plot is also fiarly unique. It's also pretty fun to see some European alternate history (one of my favorite genres) in film form, as most examples of that genre/style come to us Stateside. I also quite appreciated the inclusion of some geniuene historical elements regarding the real world Schevechenko's life in it, however, I suspect that those details might slip over the heads of most general audiences not particularly familiar with Ukrainian literary history.

Another film I admire in the film is the great blend of serious and comedic writing. Some scenes are geniuenly harrowing, heart pounding or touching, others, however, indulge in the film's ridicolous premise. This is something I believe more comedies should strive to do, as a lot of them come off as too silly or caricaturish not leaving a lot of room for more complex themes or character insight. To use an example, the British slasher comedy Severance knew how to separate the horror scenes and the comedic scenes, withouth sacrificing the integrity of either.

Overall it's a well written blend of genres that delivers on it's premise.

The Fight Coreography

I don't normally focus on action coreography in my reviews, however, I do believe that this one deserves a special mention as it's by far the best I've seen come out of a European production. Whilst it certianly doesn't feel realistic, it fits the movies pulpy, comicbook-esque nature and tone wonderfully.

The fight scenes (particularly the ones using bullet time) are and utter joy to look at, striking a perfect balance between being too over the top and just the right amount of ridicolous. There seems to be a lot of research put into the martial arts techniques of the old East, however with an added cinematic flare which doesn't detract from the experiance too much.

Suffice to say, if you're an action junkie, this one will leave you mindblown.

The Performances

If you want you movie to be intenionally bonkers, then you need a cast who can pull that off, but still have some gravitas to them. It's so easy to have an entire cast of actors who overact and underact and then claim it's supposed to be that way, without that being the actual intention of the film.

Luckily, this film does just the opposite, surrounding itself with a terrific cast of well versed Ukrainian actors known for many roles in movies and TV prior to this. They adapt themselves wonderfully to the world the writers created.

Just like the writing they know when the moment calls for hamming things up to 11 and when they need to slow down for a more somber, emotional scene. All of them do this impecably and show off their versetality wonderfully here.

So, would I reccomend it? I sincerely would. If you're a fan of Tarantino's style and work, or just like a great genre mix, then this will certainly be to your liking. However, if you're not particularly fond off it you probably won't care for it as much. However, it's still a wonderful action abode you might get some enjoyment out of.

Trailers: