Film director Balabanov dead at 54

 Russian cult film director Alexei Balabanov dies, says a BBC headline. I’m not sure if “cult” is appropriate here because it conjures up the idea of a dedicated but largely non-mainstream following. But Balabanov’s Brother movies were probably as mainstream as any film could be in the late 1990s Russia. Brother-2 (Brat-2) is still quoted in everyday conversations, much like a handful of earlier, late-Soviet films. I wish I could add more to the appreciation of Balabanov’s work but I think I have only seen Brother-2 and bits from Brother-1 and War so my knowledge of the director’s work is severely limited.

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