RUSSIA: Piranha Hunt (Okhota na piranyu)

Director: Andrei Kavun
Stars: Svetlana Antonova, A. Banshchikova, Sergei Garmash, Aleksandr Golubyov.
Release date: Russia April 6, 2006

Damn, Russian cinema is pushing ahead in giant strides these days. Gone are the days of languorous potato farmer depictions or heave ho communist era propaganda tales. Nowadays we are seeing more of a Hollywood influence with some recent films like Boy s tenyu (ShadowBoxing). And so they should. The Russians deserve to have their own commercially oriented style of films like the rest of us. This new film is the first by tv director Andrei & it looks quite stunning. The story seems to be a manhunt through the mountains with all sorts of crazy people in on the action, so it'll probably be on the brutal side. Like der! Sure it has some Rambo-esque looking sequences, but historically it's a familar story worldwide & it's only fair they get an opportunity to create thier own version. Russian society & landscape would lend itself majestically to such a story & I can only hope that cinematically it conveys what it implies. The title seems to be a bit abstract, so i'd say it's a metaphorical one.

• IMDB
• More pictures here in Russian
• Trailer 7.9MB avi