Zhmurki (2005)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Aleksey Balabanov

Writers:

Aleksey Balabanov (writer)
Stas Mokhnachev (writer)

Release Date:

2 June 2005 (Russia)

Genre:

Comedy | Thriller

Tagline:

For those who survived the 90s

Plot:

Sergei and Simon have to deliver a suitcase full of heroin to Mikhalych or else they will be killed...

Plot Keywords:

Heroin | Shot In The Head | Black Comedy | Racial Slur | Russian Mafia

Cast

Aleksei Panin	...	Sergei
Dmitriy Dyuzhev	...	Simon
Nikita Mikhalkov	...	Sergei Mikhajlovich
Sergei Makovetsky	...	Koron
Viktor Sukhorukov	...	Stepan
Dmitri Pevtsov	...	Lawyer
Kirill Pirogov	...	Executioner
Aleksei Serebryakov	...	Doctor
Andrei Merzlikin	...	Referent / Mikhalych's Assistant
Yuri Stepanov	...	Kaban
Grigori Siyatvinda	...	Eggplant
Anatoli Zhuravlyov	...	Bala
Garik Sukachyov	...	Brain
Andrey Panin	...	Architect
Aleksandr Bashirov	...	Man Tied to the Chair

Also Known As:

Жмурки (Russia)
Blind Man's Bluff (USA)
Kavardak (Russia) (working title)
Untitled Aleksei Balabanov Project (Russia) (working title)

Runtime:

Russia:105 min

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Filming Locations:

Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

Company:

Kinokompaniya CTB

Trivia:

Early version of the script contains 18 dead bodies.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The many continuity lapses and other apparent technical errors are a matter of deliberate stylistic choice in this pastiche of 1990s Russian-Mafia movies.

Quotes:

Koron: Let me go, please.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Pulp Fiction (1994)

Very solid movie

"Zhmurki" is definitely one of the best movies made by Russian film industry in modern time. No doubt about it. All actors are picked up perfectly, many famous and good people amongst them who do their work outstanding. The director's work is very good in my opinion. Music is fitting the setting. The plot is simple and funny, which makes it even better. There are really few movies out there of the same genre and with the same kind of quality. This movie really shows how Russian society developed through 90s. This is reality. This is how many politicians, oil barons, big mob people grew in Russia. I'm very certain that 90% of all rich/significant people in todays Russia developed their power/fame/money gained it by similar methods as those guys. And by the way, this movie is about REAL gangsters! It doesn't show actually any deep meaning or point or message, but it shows criminal world in a way better style than most western movies do. Besides many western movies about so called crime are made by and are about "wannabies", not real gangsters. Only a certain circle of people in western part of the world can even know what "real" criminal world is, its not like that in Russia. Many people face serious crime in Russia every day. And lots of Russians will understand me. Anyway, I strongly recommend this movie for both Russian and international audience, very decent and solid movie.