Балабанов. Перекрестки

Anton Dolin. “Dead Man’s Bluff” as Hypertext

Aleksei Balabanov’s seventh film is generally assumed to be a trifle, a pure genre exercise, and at the same time a tribute to the postmodern fashion of double-layered gangster movies (the director repeatedly named “Pulp Fiction” among his favourite films). Yet another approach is possible. Directing a script he didn’t write for himself and casting superstars of Russian cinema, including its informal tsar Nikita Mikhalkov, in all the roles, Balabanov analysed the structure of Russian cinema, its system of false genres, influences, aesthetical preferences and ethical references. Having readily assumed the role of “the Russian Tarantino” imposed on him, Balabanov used the opportunity to make an explicit, unreserved statement on the cultural context in which he was forced to exist. Behind the seeming absurdity of “Dead Man’s Bluff” lies a ruthless critique of not Russian life proper but the “second reality” produced by it.