burakovchik

The story: Sergey Chelishev is a young and promising prosecutor who is celebrating his career advance at work only to find out the next morning that his parents were brutally killed. The killer, however, is caught right away, but something doesn't work out in his confession and Chelishev suspects that this is only the tip of the iceberg and wants to continue the investigation. But for some reason, his supervisor (Basilashvili) is reluctant to investigate the matter fully and closes the case. Chelishev decides to find the truth himself and becomes an independent lawyer.

During a routine conversation in jail with one of his clients he accidentally sees his old friend Oleg Zvantcev (Serebryakov) who was thought to have died in Afghanistan long time ago. It turns out Oleg is alive and on top of that he is the leader of one of the largest organized crime groups of the city, working for "the godfather" - Antibiotik (Lev Borisov).

Oleg asks Sergey to help him out by going to an apartment to talk to someone, who turns out to be his wife. Surprise strikes Chelishev when he sees that Oleg's wife is their old friend Katya, whom he always loved.

As Oleg remains in jail, Antibiotik starts to like Chelishev more and more for his wit and courage and eventually Sergey starts replacing Oleg in business and... at home.

One thing never leaves Chelishev's mind - the death of his parents. Well, perhaps the truth is not too far to find anymore. He also knows, that eventually Oleg will find out about him and Katya...

The movie: Vladimir Bortko had certainly directed a masterpiece. It's not a good-looking and corny tale like "Brigada" but actually a strong, serious movie, which keeps the viewer intense and thirsty for the next twist of the plot. Casting is absolutely amazing: Dmitriy Pevcov - one of the top sex-symbols of the Russian cinema - not just plays the character of Sergey but actually develops it going from an honest prosecutor to a tough and cruel criminal. Olga Drozdova who plays Katya (and is Pevcov's wife outside the screen) is absolutely amazing. Not only is she astoundingly beautiful but her feminine part fully completes Chelishev with her emotion, love and fragile-looking strength. And, of course, Antibiotik is a true villain who really makes you hate him.

Combined with original music score by Igor Kornelyuk and brilliant supporting cast (one of my favorite roles of Aleksey Serebryakov) this movie will simply blow you away with its romantic plot, actors' charisma and will show you the criminal world of Saint-Petersburg from the top level to the bottom low life scam artists and murderers.

The story: Two British actors are kidnapped somewhere in Georgia and are delivered to Chechnya. The kidnappers demand a ransom, while victims are sitting in a hole in the ground. That's where they meet captain Medvedev (Sergey Bodrov Jr) and Ivan Ermakov (Aleksey Chadov). Medvedev is wounded and very strict, but Ermakov seems to have adjusted and is even helping out the Chechen gang (tribe?) leader with computers.

When Chechen leader - Aslan - learns that he can't get any money he let's the British man go home and get two million pounds to buy out his fiancée. As a gesture of generosity he lets go Ermakov.

The Brit - John - is trying to get the money, and Ivan experiences a post-war life for a Chechnya veteran in his town - no money, no work, ill father. Somehow, John, who was kicked out by every Russian official, finds Ivan and begs him to help him get his fiancée out. Ivan has nothing to lose and he agrees to back to Chechnya...

The movie: This is certainly one of the, if not THE, best movies of Aleksey Balaganov. The story that intertwines lives of Russian soldier, Chechen barbarian bandit and totally not ready for the war as it is British civilian. As always, there is a very deep meaning in every dialogue, every scene and even every look of every character. The music like in many other Balaganov's movies is mostly popular Russian and some Ukranian songs, that emphasize each act and add more emotional content to it.

Perhaps, the movie will shed some light on the situation in Chechnya, and the West will finally understand that you can't negotiate with these people and you can't let them have what they want, because it's never enough for them because they are different. If you're polite with them, they think you're weak - that's the main idea of Balaganov.

John: - Ivan, why do you keep beating this man?

Ivan: - Because this is the only way he will understand. (kicks the prisoner) Faster!

Enjoy the movie. It's a rear quality movie about war.

The movie shows how modern authority figures gained their power and capital. A lot of them came from not so clean jobs and the movies shows details of that.

Two guys - Simon (Duzhev) and Sergey (Aleksey Panin) - are working for a local mobster (Mikhalkov) as negotiators (extortion specialists actually) and killers. They are not brain surgeons and are quick to pull out a gun, which always puts them in different awkward situations. Considering there are competitors such as crooked cop, local dumb criminals and other low-life element, Simon and Sergey are in for a fun ride... Expect lot of gunshots and a sea of blood.

The movie has gathered a great number of Russian cinema stars even in episodic roles (Andrey Panin is an architect, Andrey Krasko is an unlucky neighbor, Dmitriy Pevtzov is a drug-dealing lawyer, etc.), which makes the movie so much fun to watch. Under a virtuoso management of the director Aleksey Balaganov all characters are simply dumb and extremely standardized, which makes it look like a joke.

Just like Guy Ritchie's movies this one can not really be taken too seriously. On the other hand it's too much dark humor and too much blood to be considered a comedy.

Just keep in mind that it is a true biography of some today's Russian politicians. Perhaps, that will leave you thinking.

p.s. "The Russian Ethiopian" is absolutely hilarious!