AMERICAN PREMIERE OF “NOTES FROM THE NEW WORLD“

Welcome fellow film fans to our deep dive into the movies that speak to us on multi-layered emotional levels. Today we’re going to be focusing on the artful comparison between the retelling film Notes From the New World by Vitaly Sumin and the book it is retold from Notes from Underground, a novella by Fyodor Dostoevsky. That being said, this will be an artful analysis of a well written film and its comparison to Dostoevsky’s book. You can currently find Notes From the New World with the New Director’s Cut released in 2023 on Amazon!

Notes On The Plot

Steven and Irina performing the play

The Film Notes From the New World is a relatable film that portrays life as art, and art as reality. Steven, our main character, and a few others are creating a play to represent Dostoevsky’s work and viewpoint on life. To capture a sense of realism for the play, the creators have cameras all over the theater.

In the span of one day Steven meets Sonia, who follows him home after she sees him on the street. After arriving home, Irina shows up at his door, hired by the other creators to interact with him on camera. Wanting more from their lives both women, in spite of their differences, inadvertently fall for Steven and the ideals he represents. Nevertheless, his worst problems aren’t the two girls, but instead the mafia who is keeping a very close eye on him.

Reflections On New World Art

Notes From the New World has many talented actors such as Rebecca Light, Natasha Blasick and Nathaniel Theisen. They truly mirror the characters within the book “Notes from Underground.” Within the film, the characters decided to intertwine themselves with the fictional characters from Dostoevsky’s work. They use these facades to help them deal with real world issues and consequences they face. Steven, played by Nathanael Theisen, and a few others are creating a play to represent Dostoevsky’s work to its fullest. Each are a reflection of Dostoevsky’s characters in “Notes from Underground.”

Steven is a man who revels living in pain and sorrow. Rebecca Light plays Irina, a woman trapped by the mafia because of previous choices she made to make more money than she could as an actress. Similarly to the character Liza in “Notes from Underground,” a woman treated as a whore by everyone around her, but still aches for a semblance of kindness from a man. Then we have Natasha Blasick as Sonia, considered to be “the angel” within the film, she sees Steven as her savior, and becomes devoted to him. It is hard at times to even realize when someone within the film is behaving as themselves or their “Notes from Underground” counterpart.

A Retelling of “Notes From Underground”

Our main characters all represent our modern world where people face hardships from their failed dreams. Relentlessly putting on facades to imagine a better, or different world for themselves. The theater group tends to consistently praise “Notes from Underground” in an artful comparison to the play they are creating. They see the problems of the world through Dostoevsky type glasses; the emotional suffering and war that reverberates through everyone. The inaction of change, but the worship of one way to accomplish it. Both Vitaly and Dostoevsky succeed in creating world’s with ideological discourse.

I hope you enjoyed today’s breakdown of the artful comparison between two incredible works, and the relatability to real-world issues. More posts are yet to come where I will be going further in depth to Vitaly’s charismatic films. For now, if you haven’t watched “Notes From the New World” you definitely should now. Let me know in the comments your opinion towards the film and any interesting thoughts you had!

Link to “Notes From the New World”: Watch on Amazon

To know more about how Notes From the New World was created watch the video below.

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Edited by VMP Films