Balabanov (Brother) writes and directs with an almost unnervingly naturalistic style, loading each scene with pitch-black humour
Comment
01/01/09
Cargo 200 (2008)
76
%
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Reviews Counted:17
Fresh:13
Rotten:4
Average Rating:6.4/10
Runtime: 89 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: In the Soviet Union circa 1984, Captain Zhurov (Alexei Poluyan) is a corrupt policeman who lives with his alcoholic mother. When an opportunity to exercise his power comes along one night at a... [More]
Starring: Alexey Serebryakov, Leonid Gromov, Yuri Stepanov, Alexei Poluyan
Director: Alexei Balabanov
Reviews for Cargo 200
1 - 17 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
This is not a movie for those with weak stomachs, but it is haunting if you can stomach the disgusting acts of sexual abuse and murder.
04/09/09
Mildly compelling, but, essentially, it's just another bland, tedious, pointless version of Hostel with much less blood-and-guts and ultimately leaves you with a bitter aftertaste.
01/30/09
The realism of the cinematography, the pull-no-punches style in the scenes that depict Russia's military as a disenfranchised bunch of thugs and the gumption to toss it into one pot all deliver a robust recipe.
01/05/09
Incredibly perverse and weirdly fascinating look at the Soviet Union in the pre-Glasnost era.
01/02/09
Balabanov has crafted horror setpieces as vile (and strangely aesthetically pleasing) as anything you might see in contemporary torture porn, but Cargo's slow-burn build give each act of rape, murder, torture and necrophilia that much more weight.
01/02/09
A depressing Russian thriller set in 1984 that paints a very unpretty picture of society.
01/02/09
Soviet lives are uncomfortable to watch here but as compelling as Richard Widmark's début in 'Kiss of Death' or Tarantino's more graphic one with 'Reservoir Dogs.'
01/02/09
Art house meets grind house in Cargo 200, Alexey Balabanov’s morbidly compelling thriller set in the Soviet Union.
01/02/09
Top CriticBalabanov imbues his uncompromisingly matter-of-fact horror show material with a shrewd politicized consciousness.
01/01/09
so bleak and horrifying that you might think Francis Bacon served as DP
01/01/09
Regardless of intent, Cargo 200 is beautifully filmed and completely disturbing for its entire running time.
12/30/08
You're likely to leave this movie wondering what you've just watched, as if you've been abused worse than the poor kidnapped girl.
12/29/08
Searing critique of the social decay in 1984 by Alexei Balabanov, who has an affinity with Quentin Tarentino. Worth seeing, but not as successful as his best-known movie "Brother".
12/29/08
Alexey Balabanov’s gruesome little charmer of a black comedy -- a goth cousin to Delicatessen -- is set in the gray, decaying environs of Leninsk, essentially a more depressing version of Pittsburgh.
12/25/08
o stomahi hreiazetai na to 'heis gero kai to goysto isos kai ligo diestrammeno gia tin ektimiseis, toylahiston sto epipedo poy doyleyei i ameilikti eystohia toy petyhimenoy pantrematos toy karamayroy hioymor me tin politiki satira, tin arketa sygkratimeni
09/16/08
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.
09/27/07
1 - 17 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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