Bumer

Bimmer's the Russian term for the BMW, and with such a title, the vehicle has to be a plot device in the movie.

The film begins with the stealing of a BMW 7-series by a gang of four petty thieves. Given that it's such a wonderful car, they decide to keep it for themselves instead of selling it off. But before the film reaches cruising speed, a confrontation with another gang goes wrong, and our quartet is on the run from both the cops and from the mob.

So they're off on a road trip in their ill gotten BMW, and scene after scene, we're treated to set pieces, like encounters with a gang of truckers, corrupt cops and a doctor in a small town. Some of these scenes are hilarious, watching our quartet outsmarting and wriggling their way out of situations, while others are sometimes plain boring. So it's rather uneven.

Despite the title being a car model, there is absolutely no car chases in this film, which is a pity, otherwise we could have seen the 7-series being put to good use. However, what's refreshing is the scenery. I haven't seen much of Moscow or Russia, and this film offered an opportunity to do so.

It also attempts to explore the relationships between the friends, to see if there is indeed honour amongst thieves at a time when it really would have counted. The ending is kinda unexpected, but all the more makes you wonder about the this theme.

With an excellent soundtrack each time the Bimmer is driven, you'll forgive this show for some of its shortfalls.

Among the host of modern time Russian-made "gangster" movies (think Brat/Brother, Brigada, Antikiller, Zhmurki, etc.) this is by far the most realistic one.

Brigada was very much a fiction movie, and so were both parts of Brother. Antikiller was middle of the road, and Zhmurki was just a parody on them all.

One of the previous reviewers wrote that Bumer shows the life in today's Russia. This is not true. Bumer shows life as it was in the early to mid- 1990's (and that was, in fact, the film makers' stated intent).

The "bratki" (gangsters), the "razborki" (inter-gang negotiations), the language, the extortions, the crooked cops, the truck drivers, the roads, the godforsaken village, the robbery - all are very realistic.

The only downside of the film, to my taste, was a bit too many moralizing scenes. But I still rate it as 10 out of 10.

I grew up in a different time and films were different too,more of traditional CCCR staff with occasional masterpiece by Tarkovskij)This film I've watched already living in Canada and it have resonated deeply in me,as I was still in Russia in the crazy 90-s...and i've seen in real life,what most people see only in movies)That's why Bumer is so amazing:it shows life exactly how it was there and then...Actors doesn't feel like actors,more like some of my then dead now friends...so many emotions...so long ago...so sad...

The first and maybe best film from Buslov caught a zeitgeist, became a mega-hit and birthed one of the most popular ringtones in Russia.

This is a classic fatalistic gangster movie about small-time Russian criminals from the nineties who accidentally kill an undercover cop and go into hiding on a stolen black BMW.

This film caught the dusk of the nineties, of the gangster anarchy.

The film's protagonists live by the rules of the nineties, but the rules, the world around them begin to change (part of the change is police and intelligence becoming the dominant "gangs"). The heroes are dinosaurs of the era that is ending but they are not conscious of it.

The whole film can be viewed as a story of new world and new rules marginalizing and destroying the protagonists.

The first half of the film is stronger then the second in my opinion, but all in all this film was made exceptional by unusually natural performances and authentic dialogue compared to other Russian crime movies.

Set on the outsets of the Russian financial crisis, the movie follows 4 friends trying to navigate and survive the Russian lawlessness of the early 2000s. The characters' personalities, intonations, the Russian rawness and the general atmosphere of despair and hopelessness is well executed. The acting is good and the story has many twists and turns with the narrative generally told in a linear fashion. If you want to understand what had to be done in that country at that time to not be marginalized, then check out this movie.