Russian science fiction rarely looks like Coma, the 2019 feature from director Nikita Argunov, where an entire world is assembled out of the memories of people lying unconscious in hospital beds.
What is Coma about?
A young architect with obvious talent wakes after a terrible accident, but not in any ward he would recognise. The place around him is stitched together from what coma patients remember: a street ends in open sky, an icecap sits beside a river, and a whole city can fold into the space of one room. Because memory is patchy, the landscape is patchy too, unstable and liable to break apart. Gravity and distance behave like suggestions instead of rules. He has to learn how this place works, stay alive in it, and search for a route back to the waking world.
About the cast
Rinal Mukhametov heads the cast list, followed by Anton Pampushnyy, Lyubov Aksyonova and Miloš Biković. Konstantin Lavronenko, Polina Kuzminskaya, Rostislav Gulbis and Vilen Babichev complete the main ensemble. Nikita Argunov is the credited director.
Context & significance
Coma is a Russian production filed under action, science fiction and fantasy, and it runs 111 minutes. Its central idea is architectural as much as dramatic: since the setting is built from recollection, it is fragmentary and chaotic, landscapes from different climates share one horizon, and the laws of physics can be bent. That gives the action an unusual stage, because a pursuit can pass from ice to city to water without leaving a single space. Making the lead character an architect suits the premise, since he is someone used to thinking about how spaces are put together. Viewers who enjoy dream-logic worlds, survival stories and large-scale visual design are the natural audience. Its reception among viewers has been moderate.
Watching Coma on Ktime
Coma is on K-Time with a Persian dub, so Farsi-speaking viewers can follow it without reading subtitles. Reading this page is free; playing the film needs a K-Time account login. The service is built for Persian speakers living abroad, with a Farsi interface throughout.