#POLISH PREMIERE | horribly funny | true story | smoke signals | mockumentary | native americans | America | USA | comedy | indie movies | light minded | wasted talent | broken dreams | film industry | filmset | disaster | sweat and tears | cringe | wtf
HEY, VIKTOR!
comedy | Canada | 2023
World premiere: Tribeca Film Festival 2023
Polish premiere: Splat!FilmFest
THE DISASTER ARTIST, ONLY DRUNKER AND WILDER
Meet Cody Lightning. Once, a young prodigy with great fandom and a promising career ahead of him. But now, with all odds against him, he has lost his chance to stand in the limelight. Or at least that’s he says, becuse when you’ll get to know him, you’ll see he’s just a delusional jerk.
Cody Lightning, the writer and director of the excellent comedy Hey, Viktor!, made this film all about himself: a former child actor with oonly one significant role in his portfolio — a part in the 1998 Canadian drama Smoke Signals, which depicts the daily life of native Canadians. No need to mention that it was a background role, since he was cast as a younger version of the main character named Viktor.
But in Cody’s memory, young Viktor has never been more vivid and ready to bore the heck out of anybody who would be willing to hear his story. Although hardly anyone ever talks to him. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, for Lightning is dead drunk most of the time, and even if he’s not, he’s still a real-life wrecking ball when it comes to relationships. The only person that is still holding onto him is a blonde, unarguably British-looking girl named Kate, who could swear on her life that Cherooke blood flows in her veins.
Hey, Viktor! is a mockumentary that effortlessly juggles fantasy and reality. It is for a fact that Lightning did get a role in Smoke Signals in 1998 and that his career didn’t quite rocket afterwards. In his directorial debut, Cody plays a wicked yet pitiful version of himself. As you watch him on the screen, you will want to both slap him hard and give him a hug of consolation. Watching him try to bring his fading career back to life (by illegally shooting a sequel to Smoke Signals) and impersonate the role of Diktor (Viktor couldn’t be used due to copyright) might be the best 1 hour and 42 minutes of your cinematic experience of the year. Although it will also provide you with a very solid dose of cringe. Cody takes no prisoners and this film is a boiling pot of his sweat, blood, emotions… and feces.
However, Hey Viktor! is not only a laugh-out-loud mockumentary about broken dreams. It is also a portrayal of the film industry, where there is little room for the stories of indigenous Americans or Canadians. The film stars some big names of native Hollywood, such as Adam Beach, Simon Baker and Irene Bedrad (who was the inspiration for Disney’s Pocahontas). They appear on the screen for no more than a little moment, just to reject Cody’s offer to collaborate on the sequel and to grant him their blessing so that he could tell his story to the world.
director: Cody Lightning
screenplay: Cody Lightning, Samuel Miller
starring: Cody Lightning, Hannah Cheesman, Simon Baker, Adam Beach, Irene Bedard, Phil Burke
cinematography: Liam Mitchell
editing: Sarah Taylor
language: English
subtitles: Polish
duration: 1h 42min
recommended age: 16+
