Synopsis:
A young woman is taken hostage by a police officer and subsequently abused by the lawman gone mad.

Review:
The term Cargo 200 refers to the bodies of USSR soldiers brought home from Afghanistan in the 1980s, but in Aleksei Balabanov’s film of the same name every character seems destined to become Cargo 200, either actually ending up dead or at least ending up in a dead-end quagmire of pointless violence and immoral behaviour. Unflinching would be a gentle word to describe this portrayal of a doomed humanity, but the exact point of the film beyond its doomsday message is never really clear. Unlike other recent excursions into nihilism as expressed through heartless sex and pointless violence (Mortier’s Ex Drummer comes to mind as a recent example), Balabanov’s film never goes beyond stating the obvious.

Gruz 200 caused quite a stir upon its release in Russia and it is easy to understand why. The director of popular features such as Voyna (War) and Pro urodov i lyudey (Of Freaks and Men) here goes overboard for a tale so dark and explicit that even what at first sight appears to be a happy ending actually arrives with an evil and sadistic grin. Perhaps it says something about the human condition, but as the Russian outcry might indicate, it is doubtful a lot of people will want to hear it, much less pay for it to see it.

The film is set during the war with Afghanistan in 1984 but takes place entirely in Russia, in a dreary industrial regional in and around Leninisk. Artem (Leonid Gromov) is a professor of “scientific atheism” whose car breaks down one night when on his way to his mother in Leninisk. He asks for help at a nearby cottage on the heath owned by the god-fearing Aleksei (Aleksei Serebryakov) and his practical wife Tonya (Natalya Akimova), who sell grain spirits.

Unbeknownst to Artem, not much after his serious conversation about the impossibility of both the existence of God or one’s soul with Aleksei and his subsequent departure, his possible future in-law Valera (Leonid Bichevin) shows up at the same cottage to buy some more booze after a night of heavy drinking. With him he brings Angelika (Agniya Kuznetsova), a friend of his girlfriend and the daughter of a highly placed Soviet official.

Their stay at the cottage starts a chain of events that will impact the lives of all in a dramatic way, with the evil and sadistic Captain Zhurov (Aleksei Poluyan) at the heart of the whirlpool of shocking deeds that follow, though all characters are at least partly to blame. At best, characters are reluctant cowards, but most of them are worse. A lot worse.

The film’s shocking final third contains some apocalyptic scenes set in the bedroom of Zhurov. These scenes give the words “torture porn” its two original meanings back and then combines them to disturbing effect. Zhurov’s stone-drunk mother (Valentina Andryukova) apathetically continues to watch Soviet television as her son lives out his absurd fantasies in the adjacent room, likely mirroring the stupor some audience members might find themselves in when watching Gruz 200. Perhaps apathy is the best remedy. Pass the vodka!

1.41GB | 1h 25mn | 720×384 | avi

https://nitroflare.com/view/00FBB997CACA0B4/Gruz.200.2007.XviD.DVDRip.avi
https://nitroflare.com/view/60B50356A1A7341/Gruz.200.2007.XviD.DVDRip.srt

Language:Russian
Subtitles:English

The post Aleksei Balabanov – Gruz 200 aka Cargo 200 (2007) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Synopsis: One Monday morning Katya, Vika and Zhanna learn that there will be a school disco, their first disco, on the coming Saturday night. The girls feverishly start preparing for the event, which rapidly becomes the most important moment ever in their universe, and looks like the ideal way to escape their daily lives…

Variety´s movie review:

A gritty, emotionally charged coming-of-ager, “Everybody Dies but Me” offers up a bare-bones portrait of adolescent angst in the violent suburbs of Moscow. Scripted like “Mean Girls”-meets-“Kids,” and shot with a handheld immediacy that reveals director Valeria Gaia Germanika’s docu roots, the film features highly convincing perfs by three teenage nonpros, whose big mouths and Siberia-sized chutzpah bring chaos to their parents, peers and ultimately one another. Small (77 minutes) but inspired debut feature should eke out a sustained existence in international fests, followed by a moderate afterlife in arthouses and niche markets.

For most teens, life seems tough, but for 14-year-old Katya (Polina Filonenko), Vika (Olga Shuvalova) and Zhanna (Agnia Kuznetsova), who live in a bleak, working-class burb outside Moscow, it seems 10 times harsher. Abused by authoritarian parents and humiliated by a nasty gang of older girls, their only escape is through passionate friendship, which they vow will endure forever.

But soon after, their relationships begin to untangle amid the unpleasant realities of adolescence. Katya, whipped time and again by her burly dad, insults a high school teacher and runs away from home to avoid another beating. Meanwhile, Zhanna half-attempts and fails at suicide, while Vika gets roughed up in the girls’ restroom.

Katya’s rebellious act prompts the school to cancel an upcoming dance unless she returns and fesses up for punishment. This leaves Vika and Zhanna in a difficult position: Either they stand by Katya and ignore the festivities, or they leave her behind to party hard.

During the extended dance sequence — running a captivating 20 minutes — Katya decides to defy everyone and shows up anyway — an act that will only yield further hardships.

Already credited with a handful of docus about family and adolescence — including the short “Girls,” which played in Cannes’ 2006 All the Cinemas of the World program — 24-year-old Germanika reveals a keen eye for the subtle battles fought by her protags as they approach adulthood. Emotionally potent yet never succumbing to easy tear-jerking, the week-in-a-life narrative restrains itself to a few key incidents in the teens’ troubled lives.

As the gorgeous but distraught Katya, debutante Filonenko offers a vibrant performance that feels half-real, half-scripted. All other teen thesps are equally persuasive.

Fluid, at times hypnotizing handheld camerawork by Alisher Khamidkhodzhaev adds a touch of late helmer Andrei Tarkovsky to pic’s rougher edges. Using virtually no music, sound designer Sergey Ovcharenko adds plenty of atmosphere to deepen the realistic tone.

https://nitro.download/view/E0324EF05BECB27/Vse.Umrut.A.Ya_Ostanus.DVDRip.XviD.avi
http://www.nitroflare.com/view/57920BD375D90AA/vse.umrut.a.ya-ostanus.dvdrip.xvid.-english.srt
http://www.nitroflare.com/view/BC29F79852D8243/Vse.Umrut.A.Ya-Ostanus.DVDRip.XviD.russian.srt

Language:Russian
Subtitles:English (horrible autotranslated subs, beware), Russian

The post Valeria Gai Germanica – Vse Umrut, A Ya Ostanus AKA Everybody Dies But Me (2008) first appeared on Cinema of the World.