Colin-maillard

Zhmurki is an excellent black crime comedy from Alexei Balabanov. In general, when you watch Zhmurki, you see the style of Guy Ritchie's first films, only with the charm of the 90s of Russia. The film is clearly not for everyone, and it is very different from the fact that Balabanov shot.

This is one of the best Russian comedies I have seen in a while. Russian comedy can be a bit too subtle or sappy sometimes and as a result not very accessible to the foreign viewer. This movie doesn't have that problem, although it is obvious that a lot of the humor is still lost in the translation, even more so if the movie is dubbed. The comedy is brutal and unapologetic. In fact, there were times that I thought the violence was a bit too much, even for a dark comedy. If you don't have a stomach for violence, you will likely not be able to enjoy this film.

Loved Nikita Mikhalkov's performance in this film. I think this is the first comedy I have seen him in and he makes a great comedic actor. The scene between him and the architect was probably the funniest for me. The poor, poor Russian middle class, they have always gotten the short end of the stick.

As several other posts mentioned, this film is sort of like a Russian version of Snatch. This is no masterpiece, but it is fun to watch, as long as the cartoonish violence does not turn you off. As others mentioned before, this truly is a collection of Russian acting talent. I don't remember Mikhalkov having so much fun playing a bad guy since Svoi sredi chuzhih, chuzhoi sredi svoih, I haven't seen Statskiy Sovetnik yet , I hear he is quite good in that. To me personally it was fun to compare and contrast the way Zhmurki portrayed the 1990s Russia versus Brigada and Bumer. It is a shame that this movie will not be widely available in USA, because I think it is on par with all the Asian gangster flicks Blockbuster seems to be stocking up on.

This is truly the best Russuian movie since Brat 2. It is very realistic, bloody, and it precisely depicts one of the most dramatical episodes of the history of the modern Russia. Directing is flawless, the usual Balabanov style rocks. Acting is just superb, especially part by Dmirty Dyzhev, who played psycho hit-man - the new version of fairy-tale folk hero Ivan. All other parts, even the smallest ones, are played by the top Russian actors - Nikita Mihalkov, Viktor Sukhorukov, Andrej Merzlikin, Sergei Makovetskij, you name them. The movie has tons of black humor, but the best episode is the one, in which gangsters with "strategic vision" become member of the Russian Parliament, and those without it lose everything. The soundtrack, consisting of Russian gangster-era pop and alternative, is just as good as OST from "Brat 2". So, to sum up - a true modern masterpiece!

"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.