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Aleksei Balabanov

Aleksei Balabanov

Directing

Biography

Aleksei Oktyabrinovich Balabanov was a Russian film director, screenwriter, and producer, a member of European Film Academy. He started from creating mostly arthouse pictures and music videos but gained significant mainstream popularity in action crime drama movies Brother (1997) and Brother 2 (2000). He has been referred to as the "Russian Quentin Tarantino" in the press for his critically acclaimed yet controversial films.

Known For

Cargo 200
6.8

While returning to Leningrad from a visit to his brother, Professor Artyom's car breaks down and he finds assistance at an isolated farmhouse occupied by Alexey, his wife, a Vietnamese laborer, and a stranger who wanders around the farm. When his car is repaired, Artyom leaves, drunk on moonshine, and students Valera and Angelika arrive. After Valera gets drunk, the stranger abducts Angelika.

Cargo 200

2007
Dead Man's Bluff
6.7

Sergei and Simon have to deliver a suitcase full of heroin to Mikhalych or else they will be killed. There is one minor detail: the only problem-solving technique they are familiar with is a shot in the head.

Dead Man's Bluff

2005
Brother
7.5

Danila goes to his successful brother, Victor, in Petersburg to start a new life. Unknown to Danila, Victor is a contract killer, but is in hiding after asking for too much money to assassinate a Chechen mob boss. To avoid exposure, Victor convinces Danila to kill the boss instead.

Brother

1997
Brother 2
7.1

Arriving in Moscow, Chechen War veteran Danila meets Konstantin, an old friend who tells him that his twin brother has been forced into signing a crooked contract with a US ice hockey team. Soon after this meeting, Danila discovers Konstantin dead and he sets out to avenge his death; a journey that leads him to Chicago and a whole new experience.

Brother 2

2000
Plankton Salesmen
N/A

A nostalgic look at the birth and death of arthouse film distribution in Russia in the early 2000s. The story of the company Cinema Without Borders and its two founders, Sam Klebanov and Anton Mazurov.

Plankton Salesmen

2017
Of Freaks and Men
6.4

St. Petersburg, early 20th century. The handsome and secretive Johann specializes in shooting erotic pictures depicting the floggings of bare-bottomed women. With the help of his assistants, the photographic creations gradually penetrate the peaceful households of two upper-class Russian families.

Of Freaks and Men

1998
Morphine
6.8

The year is 1917. We are in the Russian countryside. It is the middle of freezing winter. A pale young, newly educated doctor arrives. Having to deal with one medical challenge after another he soon becomes the center of everyone's attention. To soothe the impressions of human suffering he turns to morphine.

Morphine

2008
War
6.8

During the bloody war in Chechnya, a British couple and two Russian soldiers are taken hostage by Chechen rebels. Two of the hostages are then released to bring the money for the British woman who is forced to wait for the ransom.

War

2002
The Stoker
6.2

A shell-shocked Afghanistan war hero named Ivan Skryabin (Mikhail Skryabin) spends his days stoking the fire in a giant coal furnace. When he isn’t tending the flames, he keeps busy with other activities. He works on a historical novel. His adult daughter Sasha (Aida Tumutova) comes to visit. Local kids come to gaze at the flames. Gangsters, including a former Army sergeant (Aleksandr Mosin) and a sniper known as Bison (Yuri Matveyev), drop by to add special kindling to the fire.

The Stoker

2010
It Doesn't Hurt Me
5.3

Three friends are in the entrance of a luxury home in the heart of the city. They are young, full of strength and energy, they have the talent, skill and thirst for life and ... - well, they have all but one. But money...

It Doesn't Hurt Me

2006
The Castle
5.7

Closely based on Franz Kafka's book "Das Schloß", the movie shares the same action on a land surveyor who is called to a village to do a job that no one seems to have ordered. Once there, he takes up the struggle against bureaucracy emanating from the castle.

The Castle

1994
Secrets Shared with a Stranger
3.3

In Russia, in 1907, a rich lenient husband of a loose unfaithful woman is brutally murdered. She and her two lovers are suspects, but what about the stranger she met just before the murder? With no friends left, she and the stranger bond.

Secrets Shared with a Stranger

1996
Me Too
5.6

Five passengers - the Bandit, his friend Matvei, Matvei's old father, the Musician, and a young woman - race along an empty road in a big black jeep, searching for the Belfry of Happiness which, according to hearsay, lies somewhere between St. Petersburg and the town of Uglich, near a deserted nuclear power station. The Belfry takes people, but it does not take everyone. Each of the five passengers believes that he or she will be chosen.

Me Too

2012
The Arrival of a Train
5.5

Almanac of five short stories commissioned by ROSKOMKINO to celebrate the 100th anniversary of cinema.

The Arrival of a Train

1996
No image
5.5

One of the three films that comprise Arrival of a Train, a collection of shorts made to celebrate the centenary of cinema. Set at the turn of the 20th century, the film follows Trofim, a Russian peasant jealous of his wife for having an affair with his brother. Trofim kills his brother and runs away to St. Petersburg. Then Trofim steps off the train in St. Petersburg, a cameraman who happens to be shooting on the platform captures his arrival.

Trofim

1995
Sergei Eisenstein: Autobiography
8.7

A free film adaptation of the director's memoirs. In form, this is the "stream of consciousness" that attracted Sergei Eisenstein after getting acquainted with the experiments of James Joyce. The outer outline of the film is a long foreign trip of the director, which began in 1929, during which he recalls his past life and considers creative ideas. The film is constructed as a free alternation of reality, dreams, and fantasies. The material for it is fragments from the films of Sergei Eisenstein and his fellow contemporaries, documentary footage depicting the director and his time. The wide coverage of the faces and events reflected in the film shows the special role of Sergei Eisenstein in the culture of the twentieth century…

Sergei Eisenstein: Autobiography

1996
Happy Days
5.8

An unnamed hero roaming the streets of St Petersburg is befriended by a beggar with a donkey and a slightly deranged prostitute.

Happy Days

1991
How «Brother 2» Was Filmed
N/A

Documentary film with comments by Sergey Bodrov, Viktor Sukhorukov, Alexey Balabanov, Sergey Astakhov, Sergey Selyanov about the shooting of the famous film "Brother 2".

How «Brother 2» Was Filmed

2000
We Others Will Not
10.0

The film “We Others Will Not” emerged as a direct continuation of numerous meetings and conversations with Sergei Bodrov Jr. and Alexei Balabanov. The idea to reflect again on the phenomenon of Sergei Bodrov Jr.’s identity belongs to Evgeniy Nikishov and Valeriy Fedorovich. Together we decided to go on this difficult journey. Close friends and colleagues talk about Sergei: the producer Sergei Selyanov, the designer Nadezhda Vasilyeva, the composer Vyacheslav Butusov, the cinematographer Sergei Astakhov, and also… Sergei Bodrov Jr. and the director Alexei Balabanov, whose films “Brother” and “Brother 2” acquired popular fame at the threshold of the 2000s.

We Others Will Not

2021
Balabanov. Belltower. Requiem
8.0

A documentary film dedicated to Alexei Balabanov and his latest film "I also want to".

Balabanov. Belltower. Requiem

2022