I Am Dragon is a Russian romantic fantasy movie directed by Indar Dzhendubaev. It was originally released in 2015, yet according to Amazon Prime Video —which is where I watched it—2017 also counts as a release date, probably for America. With appearances by Matvey Lykov as Arman, Mariya Poezzhaeva as Miroslava, Ieva Andrejevaite as Yaroslava, and Pyotr Romanov as Igor, this movie tells the story of a young girl called Miroslava who is kidnapped by a dragon—a creature everyone thought had been slain for good— during her wedding ritual, and how her life changes after that. There might be some spoilers lying around after this paragraph so read at your own risk, but do enjoy yourselves!
After waking up in a pit, wounded and scared, Miroslava meets this guy called Arman, who is also trapped in what looks like a cave, right next to her. Arman is undeniably scared of the dragon, but what Miroslava doesn’t know is that his reasons to fear the beast are way different than hers. If you watch the trailer, you’ll know that it’s no secret that Arman is the dragon they both fear so much, and once Miroslava discovers the truth, the plot of the movie starts getting all sorts of interesting.
This film is one of those random movies I decided to watch because I’ve seen it way too many times across different places. First, it randomly popped up while looking for dragon-related stuff around the Internet, then it popped up on Amazon Prime Video, and then I even saw it in a store—which I obviously did not expect, yet I decided to take it as a sign to finally give in and watch it. I won’t deny that once I clicked play, I was a little bit scared because I expected a horrible cringe-worthy romance movie with a girl and a dragon shifter but it actually ended up being better than what I expected!
Even though it had a few cringe-worthy moments, and a few things that got on my nerves like, for example, Arman finding a robe to cover up his chest one hour later into the movie, I Am Dragon had a great set of actors who managed to portray their characters in an enjoyable way. They all did a great job at bringing this unusual love story to life and they helped me realize that this movie was worth a try. A highlight of the movie is Miroslava’s character, who starts off as the innocent young Duchess that’s set off to marry the Igor, the descendant of the man who slayed the dragon and saved brides from being stolen and never seen again because of the fire-breathing monster, and ends up realizing what she truly wants in her life.
Besides loving the cast and how they worked together, and the not-so-cringey story that is told throughout the movie, there’s another thing that really just grasps your attention and doesn’t let you go until the end. What is it, you ask? It’s the atmosphere: the aesthetics of the movie. The way the colors and the music are used during the movie is completely captivating. In the beginning, we get to see the brilliant use of bleak colors as they introduce us to the ritual they used to practice, where the town sacrificed their brides-to-be to the dragon to represent the immense fear and desperation of the people.
As we get to see Miroslava’s wedding ritual the colors are bright and vibrant again as they represent the prosperity of the people without a dragon to fear anymore—until that’s changed, and we’re once again thrown into the bleak colors. This little game with the colors is seen through other spoiler-filled parts of the movie and, from my point of view, it has a wonderful effect on the way the plot is represented. It works as the perfect way to separate the dark events of Miroslava’s journey from the bright ones.
In the end, I Am Dragon ended up being one of those weird movies I never expected to enjoy as much as I did. The romantic plot was immersive and interesting, and even though I feel like it should’ve gotten a bigger setting, everything about it was enjoyable—even the few cringe-worthy moments it had. You really should give it a try!