Балабанов. Перекрестки

Кандидат экономических наук, доцент кафедры социальной философии и философии истории (Институт философии, СПбГУ); доцент кафедры проблем междисциплинарного синтеза в области социальных и гуманитарных наук (Факультет свободных искусств и наук, СПбГУ).

Юрий Сапрыкин

Журналист, бывший главный редактор журнала «Афиша», организатор музыкального фестиваля «Пикник Афиши». Автор образовательных курсов сайта «Открытый университет».

Алена Солнцева

Журналист, критик театра и кино. Отборщик фестиваля «Кинотавр», куратор фестиваля «Кинотеатр. doc».

Summaries

Andrei Plakhov. Balabanov, Poète Maudit

Aleksei Balabanov had a notorious reputation of a provocateur and politically incorrect rule-breaker, a radical and at the same time a conservator. He was compared to Pasolini, Trier and John Ford. After his death, he is hailed as a prophet who foretold the current events. He was never adequately appreciated abroad, and in his own country, interpreted so differently that one wouldn’t tell those controversial discourses were about one filmmaker. His destiny is that of a poète maudit who didn’t belong to any camp. This is what he should rest to be in history.

Jesús Palacios. Gangsters & Angels: Balabanov & New Russian Film Noir

With “Brat”, it’s sequel and other criminal tales from the New Russia, Aleksei Balabanov, with a distinctive and personal cinematic style, surprised Russian and international film critics and audiences, rediscovering the power and possibilities of genre cinema as social, moral and historical commentary of the reality. As a result of this films and others so stunning and masterful as “Cargo 200”, Balabanov re-inventing some kind of genuine Russian noir, appropriating topics and archetypal elements from the mythology of gangster American movies, film noir, thriller and even western, through his reification as a new style, absolutely of his own but mixed with key elements from Russian reality and tradition. With auteur sensibility, but with an eye for the audience, Balabanov created some of the more impressive and intelligent examples of a perfect balance between film d’auteur and popular genre movies, unparalleled before in Russian cinema.

Anton Dolin. “Dead Man’s Bluff” as Hypertext

Aleksei Balabanov’s seventh film is generally assumed to be a trifle, a pure genre exercise, and at the same time a tribute to the postmodern fashion of double-layered gangster movies (the director repeatedly named “Pulp Fiction” among his favourite films). Yet another approach is possible. Directing a script he didn’t write for himself and casting superstars of Russian cinema, including its informal tsar Nikita Mikhalkov, in all the roles, Balabanov analysed the structure of Russian cinema, its system of false genres, influences, aesthetical preferences and ethical references. Having readily assumed the role of “the Russian Tarantino” imposed on him, Balabanov used the opportunity to make an explicit, unreserved statement on the cultural context in which he was forced to exist. Behind the seeming absurdity of “Dead Man’s Bluff” lies a ruthless critique of not Russian life proper but the “second reality” produced by it.

Alena Solntseva. Russian World Apocalypse

Starting with the film “Brother”, Aleksei Balabanov engaged himself in exploration of the so called “Russian World’s” foundations, the “Russian idea” which, after the USSR had dissolved, became the national ideology of the “siloviki” (the word was rarely used in the mid-1990s, but it is not a coincidence that the word “sila” (force, power) is found so often in Balabanov’s scripts). Inside the limited framework of the action or thriller genre, local particularities flourish. Bodrov’s character—the invincible Russian Rambo, or the national Bond—is an embodiment of that new Russian type which manifested itself in full force in the “Novorossiya” project. He is an outright monster despite the evident charm of this “thick-lipped boy.” His monstrosity—the lack of empathy, of common sense or sense of reality—is demonstrated quite convincingly, however, few perceived it that way at the time of release. It is interesting that while Balabanov probes the slough of the people’s life, he discovers no solid ground whatsoever, which leads to the macabre of “Cargo 200”, “The Stoker”, and “Me Too”. Illusive ideals do not hold a structure, the world falls to pieces because violence, its only cementing force, cannot bear real weight.

Yuri Saprykin. From Chicago to Donetsk, or The Warrior’s Way

The most popular film by Aleksei Balabanov which at the moment of release was perceived as a genre play bordering provocation, turned out to be the most providential as well. “Brother 2” was the first to foresee and embody the ideology, ethics and aesthetics of the “Russian World”, the ideological system that, as of 2015, defines Russian politics, is accepted by the majority of population and brings great shocks.

Darya Ezerova. “Me Too”: Between Fantastic & Magical Realism