''Sisters'' (russian: Сёстры, translit. ''Syostry'') is a 2001

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combin ...

directed by

Sergei Bodrov, Jr. Sergei Sergeyevich Bodrov (russian: Сергей Сергеевич Бодров; December 27, 1971 – September 20, 2002), also known as Sergei Bodrov Jr., was a Russian actor who had lead roles in the films ''Brother'', ''Prisoner of the Mounta ...

It is notable as being his first and only film as director due to his death while filming his second film the year after. It was awarded Grand Prix for the Best Debut at the 2001

Kinotavr Kinotavr (russian: Кинотавр), also known as the Sochi Open Russian Film Festival is an open film festival held in the resort city of Sochi, Russia annually in June since 1991, until it was cancelled in the wake of the 2022 Russian invasi ...

film festival.

Plot

Sveta (''

Oksana Akinshina Oksana Aleksandrovna Akinshina (russian: Оксана Александровна Акиньшина; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian actress. She is best known for her roles in films ''Sisters'' (2001), ''Lilya 4-ever'' (2002), '' The Bourne Sup ...

'') and Dina (''Katya Gorina'') are two half-sisters. Dina is spoiled and lives with her mother Natalia (''Tatiana Kolganova'') and father Alik (''Roman Ageyev''), who is a mid-ranking

gang A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collective ...

ster, while Sveta lives with her grandma (''Tatyana Tkach'') in a more humble existence and wishes to be a

sniper A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision r ...

in the

Russian Army The Russian Ground Forces (russian: Сухопутные войска �ВSukhoputnyye voyska V}), also known as the Russian Army (, ), are the land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Force ...

. Upon Alik's release from

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

after doing some time for a

robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

, some of his old associates demand him to pay them back some money he allegedly owes. When he refuses, they attempt to

kidnap In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

the two girls to try to intimidate him to give them the money. However they manage to escape, and go on the run from the mob through semi-rural Russia while their father attempts to sort affairs with the other gangsters.

Cast

as Svetlana "Sveta" Malakhov * Yekaterina Gorina as Dinara "Dina" Murtazaeva * Roman Ageyevas as Albert "Alik" Murtazaev (dubbed by Mikhail Razumovski) * Tatiana Kolganova as Natalia Murtazaeva * Dmitry Orlov as Aleksandr Palych, ment *

Kirill Pirogov Kirill Alfredovich Pirogov (russian: Кирилл Альфредович Пирогов; born 4 September 1973) is a Russian film and theatre actor and composer. He has appeared in more than twenty films since 1995. In 2005 he was made an Honour ...

as a gangster who pursues the girls *

Aleksandr Bashirov Alexander Nikolaevich Bashirov (russian: Александр Николаевич Баширов; born 24 September 1955, in Sogom) is a Russian film and theater actor, director and screenwriter. He performed in more than sixty films since 1986. ...

as Seifullin *

Andrey Krasko Andrey Ivanovich Krasko (russian: Андре́й Ива́нович Краско́; 10 August 1957, Leningrad, USSR — 4 July 2006, Odessa, Ukraine) was a Russian theatre and cinema actor. Andrey Krasko first experienced theatrical production ...

as Misha *

as guy from jeep

Tagline

''When you are eight years old, the whole world is against you. When you are thirteen years old, it's you against the whole world.''

Connections to the Brother films

Some believe that ''Sisters'' is the unofficial third entry in the ''

Brother A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-famili ...

'' film series. Besides the title and the criminal themes, all three feature Sergei Bodrov Jr. onscreen: in ''Sisters'' he appears as a possibly mob-connected

New Russian The New Russians (russian: link=no, новые русские ''novye russkie'') were a newly rich business class who made their fortune in the 1990s in post-Soviet Russia. It is perceived as a stereotypical caricature. According to the stereot ...

. In his last interview Bodrov confirmed that this was indeed a cameo of his Danila character from the ''Brother'' films, his way of "saying hello to Balabanov" rather than an attempt to continue the story.The last interview of Sergei Bodrov
at

newsru.com NEWSru.com was a Russian online news site, based in Moscow, which had a government-critical orientation. History NEWSru.com was originally launched in 2000 at the address ntv.ru. When the government took over the NTV network in 2000, with the n ...

, 27 September 2002 (in Russian)

References

External links

* * * * 2001 films 2001 directorial debut films 2001 crime thriller films Russian action thriller films Russian crime thriller films 2000s Russian-language films Films about the Russian Mafia Films about sisters Films set in Saint Petersburg Films shot in Saint Petersburg {{crime-thriller-film-stub