Brat (1997)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Aleksey Balabanov

Writer:

Aleksey Balabanov (writer)

Release Date:

8 July 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Music

Plot:

Danila goes to his older brother to start a new life in Petersburg. His brother is a gangster and a killer...

Plot Keywords:

Life | Darkness | Betrayal | Shooting | Injustice

Awards:

7 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Sergei Bodrov Jr.	...	Danila Bagrov (as Sergei Bodrov)
Viktor Sukhorukov	...	Danila's Brother
Svetlana Pismichenko	...	Sveta
Mariya Zhukova	...	Cat
Yuri Kuznetsov	...	Nemets (The German)
Vyacheslav Butusov	...	Butusov
Irina Rakshina	...	Zinka
Sergei Murzin	...	Kruglyj
Anatoli Zhuravlyov	...	Nervous Bandit
Igor Shibanov	...	Militiaman
Andrey Fyodortsov	...	Styopa
Sergei Debizhev	...	Himself
Aleksei Sevostyanov
Renat Ibragimov
Vladimir Yermilov

Also Known As:

Брат (Russia)
Brother (USA)
The Brother (UK)

Runtime:

96 min | USA:99 min

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian | English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

UK:18 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Smolensk Lutheran Cemetery, Vasilievsky Island, St. Petersburg, Russia

Company:

Gorky Film Studios

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Kruglij talks to Sveta for the first time the camera is reflected in the windscreen of the tram that Sveta is driving.

Quotes:

Danila: [the gangsters are about to kill the last witness of a double murder. Danila stands in front of the witness] Wait, I'll do it myself. Give me that.
[Snatches a M1911A1 from one of the gangsters]
Danila: Wow,a genuine Colt!
[proceeds to shoot both gangsters]
Danila: .

Movie Connections:

Followed by Brat 2 (2000)

Soundtrack:

Posle dozhdya

Don't shoot Butusov

Dunno about great, but it's definitely a DIFFERENT Russian movie. A demobilized conscript turned hitman on the backdrop of new capitalist Russia and the music "progressive-rock" group Nautilus Pompilius. Product of the war in Chechnya Danila Bogrov is a young man who knows how to kill and practically nothing else, his relations with people he does not have to kill are the most difficult ones for him. There is a lot of violence but it happens either outside the screen or almost outside, here Brat reminds me of Fireworks by Takeshi Kitano. Good Stanislavsky school of acting so visible in old Soveit movies in this one does not exist (save maybe Kuznetsov) but camerawork is rather impressive. I'm not sure I like this movie but definitely it does not suck.