Bumer

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...

First of all, I hate Brigada, in my opinion it's cheap and very false, it rather glorifies Russian gangs than does something else. Despite many somehow say Brigada and this film are similar, they are not. I love Bumer, and I hate Brigada or Brat.

Bumer is apolitical, very sincere and honest movie about people. It doesn't try to dully moralize or glorify or rise patriotism, and instead honestly shows flaws hinting there is something very wrong with society (which is a VERY rare thing in modern Russian movie-land). The film does teach, it shows inevitability of bad effects of bad actions but with style and subtlety. Actors play is another area where this movie shines, it just couldn't be better. Bumer is masterfully shot, the camera work is fantastic, beautiful panoramas and scenes, it looks stylish and not arty-crafty at the same time.

The work of art.

It's just a classical story from Russia, with love!

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.