Mercadoria 200

A lot of the reviewers of this movie in the media seem to overlook the fact that Balabanov as a director repeatedly demonstrated a very deadpan and a very dark sense of humor. The joke's certainly on them. Watch taking this into consideration.

A few more notes. The movie is loosely based on real events, some of the more unfortunate of which allegedly happened with one of the director's friends. The movie caused a major scandal at the 2007 Kinotavr movie festival (Russia's Sundance, pretty much). The awards are given based on the movie critics' vote. That vote was in favor of "Cargo 200" for "Best movie." The festival jury, however, overturned the results of the movie critics' vote and split the award between "Gruz 200" and another movie.

Finally... I dig Balabanov, I despise Gaspar Noe, and here's why. Balabanov doesn't take himself too seriously.

The title of the film is a code name for the return home of a body from the battle field. The reason why this title is chosen becomes clear early in the film - but the build of the film would allow a lot of different titles and each one of them would be matching for this film goes far beyond a body returning from the battle field. As the story rolls the film switches back and forth between a number of people and tells their respective tales - and the way all of them connect in one way or the other. The stories are not altogether happy but are not too dark either so the film doesn't turn too dreary. It is very grim though. As each of the stories turns to its conclusion one can not escape the biting cold reality of them.

Played out well enough to be believable and quick enough to be entertaining this film does pretty well. It's ending is fitting, its after-taste is bitter. But, above all, it's an interesting watch.

8 out of 10 broken bottles of vodka

Out of so many garbage russian cinema titles we saw the past two decades, this one is not trash and is outstanding. Not just because of a shock value, but the true-like depiction of Soviet Union in 1980s, good script and ok actors. Hell, this movie captivated me to the end. It's worth it.

This is a brilliant if dark movie. Showing corruption of the Soviet system in stark and horrific colors and the high price it put on the human soul, this cynical piece of movie making is based on a true story. And it rings true. More horrific than most horror movies, it is well worth a watch. It may scar you, so beware. But it is one hell of a great movie.

It's like a bad dream. You want to turn it off but you cannot. No matter how much you are dissapointed in humankind or cynical you always have some hopes left in you. This movie will bring you to the limit. Nothing exists beyond that. The worst part is you don't realize you're watching a movie, it's so real.