Fantastic Fest Day One: First Squad
First Squad is what happens when Russian storytellers hire Japanese anime studios to animate their work. The result is a beautiful looking picture with a compelling story line.
BUT.
One of the most interesting aspects of the production, ended up being one of the most distracting things about it. Interspersed between the “acts” was a series of documentary-style interviews which gave First Squad the feel of a documentary with the animated bits acting as the “re-creations”. I really like that concept, it gives an air of, if not reality, a certain legitimacy to the events depicted. But what would have been a highly effective tool became a distraction as every time the anime portions of the movie got going, it stops cold for one of the interludes. There were just too many and they were placed poorly so instead of being entertaining diversions they ended up either recapping aor forshadowing everything in the film.
Show, don't tell, ladies and gentlemen.
As for the story itself, it's a good take on the more fantastic elements of WWII mythology. The Nazis are trying to raise demons, so the Soviets are training psychics, or the First Squad, to combat them. Characterization is faint, only the lead gets any real treatment in that category which makes me wonder if the filmmakers aren't trying to build a franchise or a series out of this. It certainly has potential both in story and in art.
Final Call: 6 out of 10, beautifully animated and a good story, but suffered in execution.