The film segment of the second annual Russian Arts Festival runs Friday through Sunday, November 28 through 30, at First Chicago Center Theater, First National Bank of Chicago, 2 N. Dearborn. Tickets for all programs are $6, students and seniors $2. For more information call 773-734-2619.
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“Another Russian gangster film,” you may groan at first, as I did at the onset of this feature by writer-director Alexei Balabanov (who made the remarkable 1995 short Trofilm). But the further this movie develops, the better it gets–not only as a hard-edged look at Russian life today but also as a finely nuanced psychological study. Starring Sergei Bodrov Jr. (Prisoner of the Mountains), this follows the ups and downs of a young man who returns to Saint Petersburg after leaving the army and discovers that his brother is a hit man. (JR) (5:30)
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29
The Man for the Young Woman
Makarov
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): Time of the Dancer film still.