Alexey Balabanov is one of the most distinguished film directors of the Russian cinema. Together with him, there are the most extraordinary and distinctive creators such as Yuri Bykov (The Fool, The Major, The Factory), Andrei Zvyagintsev (Loveless, Leviathan), Kirill Serebrennikov (Summer, The Student) and Alexey Uchitel (The Stroll) in the cinema of Contemporary Russian cinema. The Balabanov's fame was acquired owing to his iconic pictures such as War, Of Freaks and Men, Morphine, Cargo 200, the Zhmurki and the Brother saga. Following the path of Visual Realism (cinematic representation of what happens indeed) as filmmakers mentioned above, Balabanov showed in his movies that the real life in Russia is not as great as some people might think. Instead, it is more cruel and gray. The first part of Brother immediately got successful and was praised by critics and ordinary viewers in 1997. The sequel was released in 2000 but it is not as good as the previous one. Alexey Balabanov obtained recognition due to his criminal drama and "Always Young, Always Drunk" Sergei Bodrov Jr. got famous because of the role of the main character Danila Bagrov.
Talking about the plot and screenplay, it looks thrilling but at the same time a bit frustrating. The sequel starts with Danila's unveiling (confession) in TV program about his military service past in Chechen Republic. After that we learn that Danila's friend Konstantin got assassinated and his little brother, a professional hockey player, is threatened as well. Immediately after Konstantin's murder, Danila and his brother Viktor decides to travel to the United States to find an American entrepreneur who is related to mafia because he suspects that a businessman has a relation to Konstantin's elimination. The sequel is full of different interesting episodes. Throughout the movie, we see how Danila starts a new life in Moscow, begins new relationships, use weapons of World War II, has a trip from New York to Chicago and how he quotes lines from the poem while he shoots at Chicago mobsters ". Funny scene with poetry and killing. Such an unusual visual rhyme from Balabanov. Brother 2 is more hilarious in comparison to previous part. It is seen while watching the film. For example, during the check-out of luggage in Chicago, Danila's brother Viktor says "Karantin? Boleete" therefore he is kidding workers of airport security. We may observe some elements previously used by Quentin Tarantino in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction because both Tarantino's movies were written and shot in "black comedy" genre. This style looks simultaneously interesting, entertaining and quite cruel similar to Tarantino's methods. From my point of view, that fact that Balabanov includes more jokes and hilarious scenes in the second part to some extent seems disappointing. I have such an opinion since the first part of Brother represented hard times of post-Soviet period, gray and rainy Saint-Petersburg, criminal acts, post-Soviet mentality of former young soldier. It felt like more criminal drama than black comedy. The second part looks like Russian plagiarism of Tarantino's style at his masterpieces. I still think that Balabanov could have done the sequel better.
If we watch the entire filmography of Balabanov, it is going to be evident that a Russian filmmaker is a big fan of rock music. If in the first part we listen to Vyacheslav Butusov's ("Nautilus Pompilus" music band) songs and see his cameo, so in the sequel we see a female pop-singer Irina Saltykova and Bi-2 music band. The music creates atmosphere of the story, tone, surrounding of the main character. Even the music plays a special role in the Danila's life. He is a fan of Russian rock and loves serious tracks telling us about the cruel and hard life. In one of the Brother 2 scenes of conversations with Irina, he says "It is not the music, soldiers do not listen to something like this at war". Hence he blames her for pop style of music.
Indeed, Brother is a real representation of post-Soviet culture. Danila Bagrov became a "spirituous hero" for young generation and a character that people deserved in 1990s. Danila is a symbol of national post-Soviet awakening. I feel no huge difference between two parts of Brother saga. However, I think the first part more accurately illustrates new post-Soviet mentality, difficulties and anarchy so that is a reason why I strongly recommend the first part of the franchise. Nonetheless, each of us ought to wonder and answer the Danila's eternal and to some extent philosophical question "What is its power, Brother?". Finishing writing this film review I would like to say "rest in peace, Alexey Balabanov and Sergei Bodrov Jr.!"
Reviews
2 Reviews
The Event
(2015)
Review of "The Event" documentary film by Sergei Loznitsa
20 September 2020
The theme of movements against politics is eternal as in literature and in films. One of them is a film called "The Event" of Sergei Lozhista who specializes in the documentary and the author of such movies as "My Joy", "Maidan", "In the Fog". A documentary film written and directed by an Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa tells about the coup d'état attempt (also known as August Putsch) happened in 1991. The coup d'état attempt (August Putsch) was a trial to take control over the Soviet Union by communist leaders and go against a leader of USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev. The director brings up the topic of revolution, freedom of thoughts and anti-political views in "The Event" documentary. Furthermore, it is important to note that Sergei Loznitsa screened out "The Event" on the 72nd Venice Film Festival since this film festival is one of the prestigious ones. In this review, there will be discussed screenwriting, technical aspects and influence on culture.
Sergei Loznitsa had a special approach to this film in terms of script. As it is a documentary movie based on the documental materials, it does not have the plot but it can have the certain script. Visual narration of the coup, as it was mentioned before, is based only on collected video materials. A picture has no voice over during the entire duration. Instead of this, we may witness a huge number of appeals, any kinds of public service announcements, conversations on the street, interviews, discussions, public singing and various thoughts of Soviet citizens. These elements immerse us into the happening. Watching this riots, strikes, meetings make us feel like we are a part of this ant political movement as well.
Concerning technical features, a documentary film is a correctly connected sequence of original video shootings of all actions within these days. Unchanged and standard aspect ratio for those films, constantly moving camera, some stable and dynamic takes, close-ups, remastered sound and film, black and white colored film are features that make this documentary special. I think it is important to mention that audiovisual aspect plays main role as well. First of all, Loznitsa edited a film and made transitions between acts and sequences using Pyotr Tchaikovsky's musical composition from his "Black Swan" ballet. "Black Swan" is quite related to this coup because during these riots the ballet was broadcasted on TV. In addition to this, "Black Swan" composition itself changes from a bit gentle and intriguing beginning to ending that make us get goosebumps. Making parallels with history of Soviet Union due to the fact that the state had a good beginning which was so intriguing for most people and a bitter ending. Second of all, probably Loznitsa deliberately put an episode with playing "Peremen" by Viktor Tsoy in the cut. This song is iconic and always actual for such anti-political movements and attitudes. Using these elements are impressive and undoubtedly I can call them true features of "The Event".
This movie is likely to influence on people because 'The Event" shows true and important events in the worldwide history. Personally I am not a fan of "documentary movie" genre but this Loznitsa's picture left me in good impressions. I mean the picture was well-edited and well-written. Moreover, I would like to mention that unpainted film creates the particular and special atmosphere in this movie. It is evident that the author has a good vision as a good artist and an experienced journalist because it could be somewhat hard to show such historical event simultaneously in the impressive and correct way.
To sum up abovementioned information, 'The Event" is not an average documentary picture because it is seen that initially a creator had a good approach to this movie. It can be praised for many elements as they were well-thought. Despite the fact that I do not like films of this genre, in general I can recommend this movie for any kinds of audience.
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