From Russia with Love

After sitting through the disappointing sequel to Bridget Jones this weekend I had the overpowering urge to watch something completely different. I knew I could count on the Russians. Aleksei Balabanov's intense crime drama Brother (Brat, 1997) stars Sergei Bodrov Jr. as Danila a displaced young soldier who heads to St Petersburg after discharging from the army to find his mobster brother. Bodrov was a talented actor from Moscow who first caught my attention when he starred alongside Catherine Deneuve in the acclaimed East-West ('99). Sadly, he died in a glacier slide in 2002. (Apparently there is a sequel to Brother but Netflix doesn't have it, so I'll have to see if I can locate it.)

Update: Danila's character as a niave, Chechen vet who's capability for violence has been exploited by military service is quite relevant. See the story about this soldier.