Joe Clement and Denise Morris review the conspiratorial and at times surreal science fiction film, Branded, written and directed by Jamie Bradshaw and Alexsandr Dulerayn. Set in mostly present day post-soviet Russia, Branded is about how Misha Galkin (played by Ed Stoppard) discovers unsettling though, as Denise and Joe lament, incoherent truths about brand-marketing and the social construction of desire. An aspiring marketing agent, Misha and his boss's nieche, Abby Gibbons (played by Leelee Sobieski), are caught in a conspiracy to change the way Russians and eventually the world look at fatness in order to boost fast-food sales. After undergoing a bizarre ritual, he can see that brands are literal parasites feeding off consumer desires and futile attempts at satisfying them.
- KBOO