Syostry

I really liked this one. I have been on somewhat of a Russian movie bender for the last 4 or 5 months. Most of the movies I have seen have been unremarkable, basically repackage Hollywood with a Russian veneer. However, there have been a few films that have stuck out as something different, films that could only be made in Russia.

I have never been to Russia so I cannot say that the film has any bearing in reality. However, the film seemed real, in the same way that reality can be stranger than fiction. One of the things I loved about this movie is that none of it is filmed in Moscow or St. Petersburg (as far as I could tell). That is pretty rare for a Russia drama that deals solely with the human condition. You get to see a lot of the small town and semi-rural (dascha) parts of Russia in this movie, which is much more interesting than seeing St. Basil's Cathedral for the umteenth millionth time.

The soundtrack in this movie is probably my most favorite of any Russian movie I have seen. It actually works with the screen material and reminds me a lot of movies like Brat and Bumer. There are parts of the film that seem a bit unpolished and awkward, but overall, this is definitely one film to check out if you are into Russia films and culture.

A film that no longer conveys anything to the public.

"Sisters" is the directorial debut of the cult actor Sergey Bodrov, who tragically died on the set of the next film. A crime drama about how the mortal danger of a chase brings two sisters who hate each other. Another debut, acting and very successful, by Oksana Akinshina.

This film touched me when i watched at a movie theater mostly as the last film of the young director Sergei Bodrov Jr. The story of a possible kidnapping of a child is common but you feel weird watching this film, you consider the power of money is above the human souls, bodies and lives in the birth of a new nation from its ashes... It was very melancholic to notice that S. B. Jr. is dead and SYOSTRY was his first and last movie. For this man and his dream to show us the new "corrupted" face of Russia the jobbery and the "corrosion" comparing with old "pure" and bureaucratic face of USSR, this is like an ode to life and death. He seems to fight the mobs inside the "story" even if the happy end became really "deadly" to this young cinematic "poet" through the strong family relations between two sisters, the "old Russia" and the "new Russia"... the Russia of Capital and the modern gangsters...

Music of the film was lyric, melodic and full of different emotions with sadness being the top as Victor Tsoy is dead too, as much many realistic things happened we felt spooky and chill more about the young children or adults "victims" of "mobs".

This is a must to see if you love Russian cinema, old or new, and i am sure that you will be touched very much. The

I really enjoyed this film. The story of two half sisters on the run from a crew of gangster kidnappers who must survive, bond and finally live one day at a time. I only wish American films were this meditative and watchable.