Film-maker known for his dark take on post-Soviet Russia
Aleksei Balabanov, who has died aged 54 after suffering a seizure, saw himself as the "anti-establishment rock'n'roller of Russian film" with an aim to make "scandalous, harsh cinema". Many of Balabanov's films are metaphorical black comedies that gaze unflinchingly at the bleakness and violence of the last days of communism and post-Soviet society, with classic Russian rock music on the soundtrack. His first two features, Happy Days (1991) and The Castle (1994), were based on Samuel Beckett and Franz Kafka respectively, and Balabanov's nihilistic oeuvre also takes in Nikolai Gogol, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Mikhail Bulgakov, whose Notes of a Young Doctor was the basis of Balabanov's Morphia (2008).
"I don't make movies with ideas. Ideas make for bad cinema," he said. "I don't make my movies for the intelligentsia, but for the people. That's why they like my films." This was demonstrated by the commercial...
Aleksei Balabanov, who has died aged 54 after suffering a seizure, saw himself as the "anti-establishment rock'n'roller of Russian film" with an aim to make "scandalous, harsh cinema". Many of Balabanov's films are metaphorical black comedies that gaze unflinchingly at the bleakness and violence of the last days of communism and post-Soviet society, with classic Russian rock music on the soundtrack. His first two features, Happy Days (1991) and The Castle (1994), were based on Samuel Beckett and Franz Kafka respectively, and Balabanov's nihilistic oeuvre also takes in Nikolai Gogol, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Mikhail Bulgakov, whose Notes of a Young Doctor was the basis of Balabanov's Morphia (2008).
"I don't make movies with ideas. Ideas make for bad cinema," he said. "I don't make my movies for the intelligentsia, but for the people. That's why they like my films." This was demonstrated by the commercial...
- 5/20/2013
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
The Great Gatsby | Beware Of Mr Baker | Fast And Furious 6 | The Stoker | The Liability | Rangeelay
The Great Gatsby (12A)
(Baz Luhrmann, 2013, Us) Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Elizabeth Debicki. 143 mins
No one's disputing that Luhrmann can put on a show, but can he tell a story? In a way, F Scott Fitzgerald's 1920s parable is a perfect fit: a study of surfaces and seduction and the hollowness of the wealthy. The hedonism and vulgarity are ravishing to behold and the hand-tinted-photo aesthetic is gorgeous. When the fireworks die down, however, that artificiality works against the romantic tragedy, and the characters are too flat to really stir any great emotions. Maybe that's the point.
Beware Of Mr Baker (15)
(Jay Bulger, 2012, Us) 92 mins
When it comes to great rock bio-doc material, Ginger Baker doesn't disappoint on any front: prodigious talent, eventful career (Cream, Blind Faith and Fela Kuti...
The Great Gatsby (12A)
(Baz Luhrmann, 2013, Us) Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Elizabeth Debicki. 143 mins
No one's disputing that Luhrmann can put on a show, but can he tell a story? In a way, F Scott Fitzgerald's 1920s parable is a perfect fit: a study of surfaces and seduction and the hollowness of the wealthy. The hedonism and vulgarity are ravishing to behold and the hand-tinted-photo aesthetic is gorgeous. When the fireworks die down, however, that artificiality works against the romantic tragedy, and the characters are too flat to really stir any great emotions. Maybe that's the point.
Beware Of Mr Baker (15)
(Jay Bulger, 2012, Us) 92 mins
When it comes to great rock bio-doc material, Ginger Baker doesn't disappoint on any front: prodigious talent, eventful career (Cream, Blind Faith and Fela Kuti...
- 5/18/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
The acclaimed Russian director Aleksey Balabanov has been found dead at the age of 54 after suffering a seizure at a sanatorium just outside St Petersburg. Despite immediate assistance, he did not regain consciousness. The news comes just as Balabanov's film The Stoker hits UK cinemas.
Balabanov, who has made 16 feature films and won numerous awards, was recently the subject of a retrospective at the Bradford Film Festival and it was hoped this might herald a breakthrough into western markets. Despite his relative youth, his work has been compared to that of giants of Russian cinema like Tarkovsky.
Born in Sverdlovsk, Balabanov had been a resident of St Petersburg for just over 20 years. He had been ill for some time but was still working, developing a new script at the time of his death. He is survived by his wife, Nadezhda Vasilyeva, and their two sons....
Balabanov, who has made 16 feature films and won numerous awards, was recently the subject of a retrospective at the Bradford Film Festival and it was hoped this might herald a breakthrough into western markets. Despite his relative youth, his work has been compared to that of giants of Russian cinema like Tarkovsky.
Born in Sverdlovsk, Balabanov had been a resident of St Petersburg for just over 20 years. He had been ill for some time but was still working, developing a new script at the time of his death. He is survived by his wife, Nadezhda Vasilyeva, and their two sons....
- 5/17/2013
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
★★★★☆ A prime example of the complications faced by Russian films attempting to find UK support, Aleksei Balabanov's The Stoker (Kochegar, 2010) is released after three years in distribution limbo. Best known domestically for Brother (1997) and Brother 2 (2000), Balabanov is an eccentric and unpredictable director whose work, up until now, has seldom managed to escape the festival circuit. Set in 1995 in post-Soviet Saint Petersburg, The Stoker's eponymous, elderly boiler worker (the late Mikhail Skryabin) spends his days locked away in a cramped recess of an apartment block shovelling coal to keep its three furnaces burning.
In his spare time he tells stories to local children about the war, continues writing his manuscript about Russian persecution of the Yakuts and engages in small talk with his former army comrades (now local gangsters) who use his furnace as an opportune way to discard inconvenient corpses. However, just like in the story he's composing about oppression and enforced 'Russiafication',...
In his spare time he tells stories to local children about the war, continues writing his manuscript about Russian persecution of the Yakuts and engages in small talk with his former army comrades (now local gangsters) who use his furnace as an opportune way to discard inconvenient corpses. However, just like in the story he's composing about oppression and enforced 'Russiafication',...
- 5/15/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
The last day of Fantastic Fest is often the most relaxed. Many have left to return home, and the Alamo patio feels like a ghost town compared to the first few days. Instead of five screens, films were playing on only three. Still, many of the best shows remained to be seen, including several fan-favorites with added screening times such as A Boy and His Samurai.
The day began with a South Korean thriller reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn's Wait Until Dark. Blind is the story of Min Soo-Ah, a no-nonsense police academy trainee. Min's brother has a habit of getting into trouble of a criminal nature, and fed up with his latest exploit, she arrests him and handcuffs him to the car. The ensuing sibling catfight ends in a disastrous wreck, leaving Min blind and her brother dead. Min is expelled from the academy, not for her handicap, but for her irresponsible actions.
The day began with a South Korean thriller reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn's Wait Until Dark. Blind is the story of Min Soo-Ah, a no-nonsense police academy trainee. Min's brother has a habit of getting into trouble of a criminal nature, and fed up with his latest exploit, she arrests him and handcuffs him to the car. The ensuing sibling catfight ends in a disastrous wreck, leaving Min blind and her brother dead. Min is expelled from the academy, not for her handicap, but for her irresponsible actions.
- 10/1/2011
- by Mike Saulters
- Slackerwood
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