Brother by brother: in February Moscow "Summer will end"

In Moscow on February 17, the audience premiere of the crime drama "Summer will end", the winner of the second festival of topical author's cinema "Mayak". Among the creators of the picture is full of Oscar nominees - the main role played by Yura Borisov, one of the directors was Maxim Arbugaev, who claimed the statuette in 2023 for his documentary "Exit". "The Summer Will End" Arbugaev shot together with Vladimir Munkuev, who also wrote the film's script. On why "The end of summer" - a potential folk hit, the parallels with "Brother" Alexei Balabanov and what is the song of Viktor Tsoi - in the material "Izvestia".

The winner of "Mayak" with the most titled team

"As you realized, we are today without a nominee for the Oscar" - addressed the audience of the premiere of the first hall of the cinema "October" Vladimir Munkuev, while on the stage rose impressive crew. The performer of one of the two main roles (the second in Makar Khlebnikov) Yuri Borisov was really nowhere to be seen. A day earlier, the artist was in London at the BAFTA awards ceremony, where he was nominated for his supporting role in the movie "Anora". Back to the premiere of "Summer will end" Borisov simply did not have time. Nevertheless, the excitement around the premiere is evident. This is the winner of the second festival "Mayak". The movie is already being called the "killer" of Alexei Balabanov's "Brother". It is a tough story about the difficulties of growing up, inspired by a real story that happened in Yakutia, the director's native country.

The older brother Kesha returns from prison to his native village, where his father and younger brother Tima are waiting for him. Kesha wants to fit into a quiet life, he gets a job in a gold-mining artel. Seventeen-year-old Tima wants most of all to enter the institute. Everything goes according to plan exactly until Kesha is "thrown". Trying to take revenge, the older brother steals the gold and goes on the run. But not alone, he drags Tima down with him.

Munkuev and Arbugaev began working on the script in 2021, and began shooting in 2022. The release of this movie was delayed, during this time Arbugaev, together with his sister Eugenia managed to shoot the documentary "Exit" and received for him a nomination for "Oscar". Munkuev was preparing for the release of his "Nuuchcha", which remained on the shelf. For at least a year, audiences waited for the premiere of "Summer Will End." "Because that's our reality now," the director told Izvestia when asked what the delays were due to.

Comparisons with "Brother" are inevitable

"Summer will end" too much relies on parallels with "Brother" to pass by this can be calm. The main character Kesha is a loner who takes justice into his own hands, only he returned not from the war, but from the zone. A little-talking, but thorough, proud, ready for a swift reprisal. He, too, believes that strength is in the truth, and the truth is in helping his brother. In this case, he also helps his parents, but his brother still comes first.

On the way of the brothers get in the way of criminals, but they will be punished, a large monetary kush is figured. In "Brother" the leitmotif was the music of "Nautilus", here it is Tsoi. Yes, there are not so many "Kino" songs, but one of them is included in the title. After all, it is not by chance that Alexander Mosin, who was not only an actor in Balabanov's last films, but also a friend, assistant, even defender of the director, was invited for one of the important roles.

In light of all these introductions, it is hard not to suspect the authors of the movie that they did not make a movie-challenge, taking a swing at the main popular masterpiece of Alexei Balabanov. And you can say as much as you want about the fact that "Brother" in general was not understood as it was conceived, waving the published script of the classic film, which is very different from the result. Still, no one will argue that Danila Bagrov is the main movie hero of Russian cinema in its recent history and that "Brat" is a major movie on that basis.

Both directors are skeptical of parallels with "Brother". Maxim Arbugaev admitted that he is a big fan of Balabanov, but disagrees with the comparisons. Vladimir Munkuev, on the contrary, is glad that every viewer and critic will see something different in their picture.

- We made a movie, and people are already interpreting it in their own way. I'm not preventing that. I know what I meant. And that's my secret," said the director.

The idea to name the movie with a reference to Tsoi was also born by chance. It came to Vladimir Munkuev, told "Izvestia" Arbugaev.

- We needed that in one scene the guys played the guitar and sang some song. When we came to listen to what they had prepared, Denis Kuznetsov and Yura Borisov played "Summer Will End". Everything happened by itself, - added the director.

But there is an important nuance. Danila Bagrov is a charismatic hero, played by the charismatic Sergei Bodrov. And Yura Borisov is a multifaceted artist who works not by charisma, but by professional skill, complete reincarnation, dissolution in the character. And his Kesha in "Summer Will End" is not a hero in the romantic sense of the word, not a savior, not Batman, but a very simple guy who decided to dramatically correct his life for the better exactly as thousands and tens of thousands of guys in his place would have done. And, probably, they have done it many times, getting the full price for it.

Kesha came up with the perfect robbery, but since he himself is not seven eyes, and he has no experience, who will be surprised at what will happen in the end? Let's not go into details, let's just say that Kesha found himself in the center of a vortex, sucking in more and more actors, because in Yakutia (and this is evident from the local cinema) they don't like to joke with such guys, and if they do, they don't pick up any bones.

- There is a lot of violence in the world, a lot of cruelty and a lot of injustice. We have a heavy movie, but we want everyone to see in it this dark side, to avoid such mistakes and learn from the mistakes of others - this is how Maxim Arbugaev sees the main message of their picture.

Therefore, the answer to "Brother" is to deheroize, razromantiziruetsya image of Danila Bagrov. To show that there was a fairy tale, and in life - like this, although in fact we all see how much fairy tale conventionality in "Summer will end," where here are used purely genre tools, what kind of movie inspired the creators.

We see a lot of things, including the magnificent duet of Yura Borisov and Makar Khlebnikov, which, the duet, at the "White Elephant" many people proposed to award the title of "Event of the Year". But in all this polemic Danila's image somehow rises even higher, because the bogatyrs can not be exposed, turning them into chichikov. They are simply different stories that do not supplant each other, but only stand on different sides of the same field.

A separate bonus of the movie was the fact that its authors are hardly the most titled team in the history of Russian cinema. We've already talked about the Oscar nominations, but that's not all. Maxim Arbugaev is also a Sundance winner. Director Vladimir Munkuev is the winner of Karlovy Vary and the winner of the last Kinotavr. These regalia make the statement, if not weightier, then certainly louder, and this is always very important for auteur cinema.