Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
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.
Aleksei Balabanov's Brother is a landmark of post-Soviet Russian cinema, capturing the chaotic moral ambiguity of 1990s Russia with raw authenticity. Sergei Bodrov Jr. delivers a magnetic, understated performance as Danila, making him one of the most iconic antiheroes in Russian film history — the acting is genuinely exceptional. The film's novelty is high: its voice is utterly singular, blending grim urban realism with a cool, almost mythic tone and a rock soundtrack that defined a generation, creating something unmistakably its own. The plot is functional rather than intricate — a straightforward crime narrative elevated by atmosphere and character rather than structural complexity. Cinematography is workmanlike but effective, using Petersburg's decaying urban landscape purposefully without particular visual ambition. The ending is satisfying thematically but somewhat abrupt, leaving threads unresolved in ways that feel less deliberately open than simply incomplete.