Cargo 200 (2007)
"Gruz 200" (original title)

A young woman is taken hostage by a police officer and subsequently abused by the lawman gone mad.

Director:

Aleksey Balabanov

Writer:

Aleksey Balabanov

Stars:

Agniya Kuznetsova, Aleksei Poluyan, Leonid Gromov

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Agniya Kuznetsova	...	Angelika
Aleksei Poluyan	...	Captain Zhurov
Leonid Gromov	...	Artem, Professor of Scientific Atheism
Aleksey Serebryakov	...	Aleksey
Leonid Bichevin	...	Valera
Natalya Akimova	...	Antonina, Aleksey's Wife
Yuriy Stepanov	...	Mikhail, Colonel
Mikhail Skryabin	...	Sunka
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sergei Aleksandrov
Valentina Andryukova
Konstantin Balakirev
Aleksandr Bashirov	...	Skinny Alcoholic
Alyona Falaleyeva
Yuliya Glazunova
Dmitri Karpov

Storyline

A young woman is taken hostage by a police officer and subsequently abused by the lawman gone mad.

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Plot Keywords:

female nudity | rape | soviet afghanistan war | kidnapping | murder | 

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Taglines:

Odinnadtsatyy film Alekseya Balabanova (Eleventh film by Aleksey Balabanov)

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [ru]

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian

Release Date:

14 June 2007 (Russia)

Also Known As:

Cargo 200

Filming Locations:

Cherepovets, Russia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kinokompaniya CTB

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Soviet rock band "Kino" that collapsed after the death of its soloist Viktor Tsoy is still popular in Russia today. To make a scene with "Kino" playing live, Aleksey Balabanov chose four people: three musicians out of different little-known bands of St. Petersburg plus one professional actor. Viktor Tsoy's part was played by Niyaz Sadykov who gave concerts with his band called "Niyaz" in a St. Petersburg club "Kamchatka". "Niyaz" only played songs by Tsoy and only in "Kamchatka". Sadykov was chosen to play Tsoy after assistant director Anastasiya Pavlovich visited a concert by "Niyaz" to film it and tell the band that Balabanov wanted to invite them. Balabanov says there were several bands in St. Petersburg whose frontmen imitated Tsoy and he chose Sadykov because the latter was most like Tsoy, "in plastics and everything." The crew wanted to make the scene with the song "Elektrichka" but the record they had was too flawed and they chose the studio version of "Vremya yest, a deneg net", one of Balabanov's favorite songs by "Kino". Sadykov was too short and had to stand on a special tray when the scene was shot. All the equipment used in the scene was fake. Only the guitar was real, but it was dyed to match Tsoy's photos. According to Sadykov, the makeup of the "band" took several hours but the filming with a crowd of extras only lasted for 10 or 15 minutes.

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Connections

Referenced in Prozhektorperiskhilton: Evgeniy Grishkovets (2010)

User Reviews

Brilliant mix of grotesque, horror, and comedy

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.