Bumer

The Bummer (also known as Bimmer), is an early 2000s Russian take on the venerable "Reservoir Dogs" movie genre of the early 90s. However, the Bummer is very distinct and very original. I'd say that there is a lot more soul in this movie than in Tarantino's gangster flick. In fact, this movie probably had matched, if not surpassed, the Dogs in several respects and it had probably set a new benchmark for those who are aware of the existence of the modern Russian cinema. Both movies depicted stylized violence simply for the sake of violence. However, in the Russian case, it's not all made up. It's their everyday life. The acting of the Bummer gang was terrific. This movie depicts very realistically Russia's Putin-era criminal nihilism, which is less glorious than in the Yeltsin era but still very interesting for an outside eye, the corrupt cops, and the decaying provincial infrastructure. Unfortunately, I doubt that the English language subtitles can do justice to the slang terms used in this movie (I watched the Russian language version without subtitles).

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.

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.

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.

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.