Zhmurki
Encyclopedia
Dead Man's Bluff, or Zhmurki is a 2005
Russia
n black comedy
/crime film
.
Director Aleksei Balabanov
, who directed Brother
and Brother 2 , uses "uniformly ace" (Variety) cameo performances, by Russia's most prominent actors, to send up both the greed-is-good mentality of the newly democratized former Soviet Union and the self-conscious Quentin Tarantino
/Guy Ritchie
-style crime films of the 90s. The film suggests that in the mean free-market streets of Russia
in the beginning of 90-s, the only real liberty was the freedom to kill.
Approximately 50 liters of fake blood were used in the film. With the exception of a few scenes in Moscow
, the film was shot in Tver
, the city formerly known as Kalinin, and Nizhny Novgorod
, the city known as Gorky in Soviet times
The stars of the film include famous Russian actors such as Nikita Mikhalkov
(best known to American audiences for his work in Burnt by the Sun
), Dmitri Dyuzhev
, Aleksei Panin, Sergei Makovetsky
, Igor Sukachev, Viktor Sukhorukov
, and Renata Litvinova
. Actually, there are more than 20 Russian-movie stars in the film, but it's not easy to recognize them immediately since they are all in disguise.
The movie flashes back to a Russian town outside Moscow (Nizhniy Novgorod) in "the 90s" where we meet two criminals, members of "bratva" (one of the local racket gangs), Simon and Sergei. These small time hoodlums are working for the local mob boss, Sergei Mikhailovich (played by Nikita Mikhalkov). Sergei Mikhailovich always wears a magenta colored jacket and is on his cell phone most of the time, which was extremely rare back then. Sergei Mikhailovich wishes to "finish off" one chemist with a nickname “Doctor” (played by Aleksei Serebryakov), who makes drugs in his laboratory. He sends his bandits Sergei and Simon to capture him and to get the drugs. Sergei is playing a somewhat clever gangster and is in charge of most of the missions; Simon is just a killer. Unfortunately, they get into a trap and end up killing the “Doctor”.
Sergei Mikhailovich is very mad with their performance but gives them another chance to straighten up. He wants them to visit one of his partners, the Advocate (played by Dmitrij Pevcov) and exchange a suitcase of money with a suitcase of drugs. However, they end up failing the mission once again. Another main character, a policeman Stepan (played by Viktor Sukhorukov) knows about the mission and is trying to overthrow it, using his own band of three men. Policeman’s band end up stealing the case with drugs (instead of the case filled with money). Sergei Mikhailovich orders his bandits to kill Stepan and to bring back the suitcase with the drugs. Simon brutally tortures Stepan, gets all the information about the other band and eventually kills him.
After, Sergei and Simon go out to hunt the policeman’s men and to find the missing suitcase. They come to one of the apartments and find one of the three men, Baklazhan (played by Grigoriy Siyatvinda). While Simon tortures him in order to find out where they hid the suitcase, other members of the group show up. Sergei and Simon end up finding the suitcase in the oven. After, Sergei offers three men to play the Russian roulette game. All of them end up dying, but Baklazhan shots Sergei in the stomach. While Sergei is getting help from Simon’s college buddy (med-student), Simon finds Sergei’s folder with a metal sheet inside of it, realizing that Sergei is a coward and that he would never play the real Russian roulette.
Sergei and Simon understand that Sergei Mikhailovich will not forgive them the failure once again and end up going to Moscow with the suitcase of drugs.
In 2005, Sergei and Simon are politics in Russia. Sergei Mikhalovich works for them as a security guard.
2005 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
/crime film
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
.
Director Aleksei Balabanov
Aleksei Balabanov
Aleksei Balabanov is a popular Russian filmmaker. Balabanov is best known for the 1997 crime film Brat , and its more action-oriented sequel, Brat-2 , both of which starred the late Sergei Bodrov Jr. as a novice hit man...
, who directed Brother
Brother (1997 film)
Brother is a 1997 Russian crime film directed by Aleksei Balabanov and starring Sergei Bodrov, Jr. The sequel Brother 2 was released in 2000. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:...
and Brother 2 , uses "uniformly ace" (Variety) cameo performances, by Russia's most prominent actors, to send up both the greed-is-good mentality of the newly democratized former Soviet Union and the self-conscious Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
/Guy Ritchie
Guy Ritchie
Guy Stuart Ritchie is an English screenwriter and film maker who directed Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Revolver, RocknRolla and Sherlock Holmes.-Early life:...
-style crime films of the 90s. The film suggests that in the mean free-market streets of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
in the beginning of 90-s, the only real liberty was the freedom to kill.
Approximately 50 liters of fake blood were used in the film. With the exception of a few scenes in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, the film was shot in Tver
Tver
Tver is a city and the administrative center of Tver Oblast, Russia. Population: 403,726 ; 408,903 ;...
, the city formerly known as Kalinin, and Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...
, the city known as Gorky in Soviet times
The stars of the film include famous Russian actors such as Nikita Mikhalkov
Nikita Mikhalkov
Nikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov is a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, actor, and head of the Russian Cinematographers' Union.Mikhalkov was born in Moscow into the distinguished, artistic Mikhalkov family. His great grandfather was the imperial governor of Yaroslavl, whose mother was a Galitzine princess...
(best known to American audiences for his work in Burnt by the Sun
Burnt by the Sun
Burnt by the Sun is a 1994 film by Russian director and actor Nikita Mikhalkov. The film depicts the story of a senior Red Army officer and his family during the Great Purge of the late 1930s in the Stalinist Soviet Union...
), Dmitri Dyuzhev
Dmitri Dyuzhev
Dmitri Petrovich Dyuzhev is a Russian film and stage actor, singer.- Early life :Dmitri was born in family of a famous actor Peter Dyuzhev and Ludmila Dyuzheva...
, Aleksei Panin, Sergei Makovetsky
Sergei Makovetsky
Sergei Makovetsky is a Russian movie actor.- Filmography :Films:*1982 - To take live!*1990 - Sons of Bitches*1992 - Trotsky - Lev Trotsky*1994 - Burnt by the Sun - Captain*1996 - Of Freaks and Men*1997 - Three Stories...
, Igor Sukachev, Viktor Sukhorukov
Viktor Sukhorukov
Viktor Ivanovich Sukhorukov is a Russian actor. He has appeared in over 50 films and television shows since 1974. He starred in Happy Days, which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.-Selected filmography:...
, and Renata Litvinova
Renata Litvinova
Renata Muratovna Litvinova is a Russian actress, director, and screenwriter. She was born to a Russian mother and a Tatar father...
. Actually, there are more than 20 Russian-movie stars in the film, but it's not easy to recognize them immediately since they are all in disguise.
Plot summary
The film opens with a group of university students at a lecture. The professor tells them that "start-up capital is what begins everything - with it, you can start a business and multiply your investment many times over. The key thing is how to get it...". As an example, she starts with a story that happened ten years ago.The movie flashes back to a Russian town outside Moscow (Nizhniy Novgorod) in "the 90s" where we meet two criminals, members of "bratva" (one of the local racket gangs), Simon and Sergei. These small time hoodlums are working for the local mob boss, Sergei Mikhailovich (played by Nikita Mikhalkov). Sergei Mikhailovich always wears a magenta colored jacket and is on his cell phone most of the time, which was extremely rare back then. Sergei Mikhailovich wishes to "finish off" one chemist with a nickname “Doctor” (played by Aleksei Serebryakov), who makes drugs in his laboratory. He sends his bandits Sergei and Simon to capture him and to get the drugs. Sergei is playing a somewhat clever gangster and is in charge of most of the missions; Simon is just a killer. Unfortunately, they get into a trap and end up killing the “Doctor”.
Sergei Mikhailovich is very mad with their performance but gives them another chance to straighten up. He wants them to visit one of his partners, the Advocate (played by Dmitrij Pevcov) and exchange a suitcase of money with a suitcase of drugs. However, they end up failing the mission once again. Another main character, a policeman Stepan (played by Viktor Sukhorukov) knows about the mission and is trying to overthrow it, using his own band of three men. Policeman’s band end up stealing the case with drugs (instead of the case filled with money). Sergei Mikhailovich orders his bandits to kill Stepan and to bring back the suitcase with the drugs. Simon brutally tortures Stepan, gets all the information about the other band and eventually kills him.
After, Sergei and Simon go out to hunt the policeman’s men and to find the missing suitcase. They come to one of the apartments and find one of the three men, Baklazhan (played by Grigoriy Siyatvinda). While Simon tortures him in order to find out where they hid the suitcase, other members of the group show up. Sergei and Simon end up finding the suitcase in the oven. After, Sergei offers three men to play the Russian roulette game. All of them end up dying, but Baklazhan shots Sergei in the stomach. While Sergei is getting help from Simon’s college buddy (med-student), Simon finds Sergei’s folder with a metal sheet inside of it, realizing that Sergei is a coward and that he would never play the real Russian roulette.
Sergei and Simon understand that Sergei Mikhailovich will not forgive them the failure once again and end up going to Moscow with the suitcase of drugs.
In 2005, Sergei and Simon are politics in Russia. Sergei Mikhalovich works for them as a security guard.
Cast
- Nikita MikhalkovNikita MikhalkovNikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov is a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, actor, and head of the Russian Cinematographers' Union.Mikhalkov was born in Moscow into the distinguished, artistic Mikhalkov family. His great grandfather was the imperial governor of Yaroslavl, whose mother was a Galitzine princess...
- Sergei Mikhailovich - Dmitri DyuzhevDmitri DyuzhevDmitri Petrovich Dyuzhev is a Russian film and stage actor, singer.- Early life :Dmitri was born in family of a famous actor Peter Dyuzhev and Ludmila Dyuzheva...
- "Simon" - Aleksei Panin - Sergei
- Sergei MakovetskySergei MakovetskySergei Makovetsky is a Russian movie actor.- Filmography :Films:*1982 - To take live!*1990 - Sons of Bitches*1992 - Trotsky - Lev Trotsky*1994 - Burnt by the Sun - Captain*1996 - Of Freaks and Men*1997 - Three Stories...
- "Koron" - Viktor SukhorukovViktor SukhorukovViktor Ivanovich Sukhorukov is a Russian actor. He has appeared in over 50 films and television shows since 1974. He starred in Happy Days, which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.-Selected filmography:...
- Stepan ("Legavyi") - Anatoliy Zhuravlev - "Bala"
- Grigoriy Siyatvinda - "Baklazhan" (rus. for Eggplant)
- Aleksei SerebryakovAleksei Serebryakov (actor)-Selected filmography:-External links:...
- "Doctor" - Garik Sukachev - "Mozg" (rus. for Brain)
- Andrei PaninAndrei PaninAndrei Vladimirovich Panin is an Nika Award-nominated Russian actor appearing in film and television, and a director.-Early life:Panin was born on May 28 1962 in Novosibirsk, Soviet Union; the son of Agnessa , and Dimitri Alexandrei Panin. Two years later the family moved to Chelyabinsk...
- Architect - Kirill Pirogov - "Palach" (rus. for Hangman)
- Yuriy Stepanov - "Kaban" (rus. for Wild Boar)
- Renata LitvinovaRenata LitvinovaRenata Muratovna Litvinova is a Russian actress, director, and screenwriter. She was born to a Russian mother and a Tatar father...
- Waitress/Secretary Katya - Zhanna Bolotova - University Professor
- Tat'yana Dogileva - Galya/Lawyer's Secretary
- Andrey KraskoAndrey KraskoAndrei Ivanovich Krasko was a Russian theatre and cinema actor.Son of Russian actor Ivan I. Krasko.-External links:...
- Neighbour disturbed by the loud music - Aleksandr Bashirov - Man tied to the chair
- Andrei MerzlikinAndrei MerzlikinAndrey Ilyich Merzlikin is a Russian film and television actor.-Early life and education:He was born in 1973 in Kaliningrad, Moscow Oblast, and graduated from the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in Moscow.-Filmography:-External links:...
- Security guard - Viktor BychkovViktor BychkovViktor Bychkov is a Russian actor. He won a 2002 Golden Eagle Award and a 2004 State Prize of the Russian Federation.-Selected filmography:* Perekhod tovarishcha Chkalova cherez severnyy polyus...
- Boy's father in zoo - Sergei Glazunov - Leshik (medicine student)
- Vladik Tolochko - Vladik
- Yevgenij Kosyrev - Grown-up Vladik
- Dmitrij Pevcov - Lawyer Borshanskiy
- Oleg Osaenko - Scumbag with a gun
External links
- Trailer and Screenshots