Dead Man’s Bluff

In 2005, a university professor opens with a lecture on the primitive accumulation of capital, using the chaotic 1990s as a stark example of how wealth was seized and built in the era. The camera then flash-forwards to 1995 in Nizhny Novgorod, where a tense interrogation scene unfolds. Three masked men burst in with pistols, but the leader lowers his disguise to reveal a police officer named Stepan, who wastes no time: he shoots the torturer in the head and pocketing a scrap of paper that seems to hold some crucial clue.

From there, the story introduces three brutal players: Koron, Bala, and Baklazhan. They are short on opportunity until Stepan reaches out, enlisting them for a new job that promises payoff and power. The film quickly shifts to the two young bandits who will drive much of the drama: Semyon, known as Simon, and Sergei, who work under the seasoned crime boss Sergei Mikhailovich, commonly called Mikhalych. Semyon and Sergei are tasked with pressuring a drug lab to pay protection money, a grim mission that spirals into much more violence than they anticipated.

Sergei takes the lead in negotiations at the lab, but the situation deteriorates as Simon and Sergei end up spraying the room with gunfire, leaving the others dead and forcing them to salvage what remains—the drugs—in an attempt to appease Mikhalych, who erupts with fury at their failure. The next command is ruthless: Mikhalych orders the pair to swap a suitcase full of cash for a suitcase filled with five kilograms of heroin, to be delivered to an associate. On the way, the duo bumps into their old associate, a bandit named Kaban, who presses Sergei to consider a life away from crime and even hints at Moscow as a possible new start.

Unbeknownst to them, Stepan has gleaned the entire plan from the scrap of paper and hires Koron to intercept the exchange. He also hires Mozg, his old foe, to hunt down Koron’s gang after the heist and to ensure the money lands back in the right hands. The ambush goes wrong for Sergei and Simon as Koron’s crew ambushes them and seizes the money, heightening the stakes for Mikhalych’s cartel.

When Sergei and Simon finally reach Mikhalych, the crime lord orders them to locate Stepan and discover where the heroin was taken, then to kill the traitor. The two track Stepan to his apartment, where they beat a confession from him: Stepan admits he played a role in the ambush and reveals where to find Koron and the heroin. A brutal turn follows as Simon executes Stepan.

The action shifts to Koron’s apartment, where Baklazhan is found bound but soon breaks free and grabs a gun. He shoots Sergei, wounding him, before Simon finishes Baklazhan off. With Sergei wounded and bleeding on the couch, the pair reach out to their friend Lyoshik, a medical student, who extracts the bullet. As the pair flee, they reflect on a past conversation with Kaban and decide to head to Moscow, taking the heroin with them to fund a fresh start outside Mikhalych’s orbit.

Fast-forward to 2005, and the world has shifted yet again. Sergei has become a State Duma deputy, and Simon works as his assistant. They have built a securities trading firm, a kind of legitimate front for their previous life of crime. Mikhalych now works as a security guard for them, while Mikhalych’s son Vladik serves as an errand boy, a stark contrast to the chaotic power once wielded by the older man. The film closes with a sobering line: life in Russia has become harder, a reflection on how the 1990s’ brutal energy hardened into a different, perhaps subtler, kind of danger in the new millennium.

• Stepan Voronov casts a long shadow as the lawman turned gangland insider, whose betrayals set off a chain of deadly events.

• Koron and Baklazhan epitomize the ruthless opportunists who survive by shifting loyalties and seizing every chance.

• Semyon and Sergei are the central duo whose violent ascent from street criminals to influential operators mirrors the film’s meditation on power, loyalty, and desperation.

• Mikhalych anchors the world of crime with a calculating, aging presence, whose shifting role—from boss to security figure—underscores the era’s new economic realities.

• Kaban and Mozg appear as unpredictable forces who tilt the balance of power through force and intimidation.

• Vladik represents the next generation embedded in a system that blends crime, legitimacy, and family ties, a reminder of how the past persists in the present.

The narrative blends brisk, brutal set-pieces with a cool, observational tone, drawing a throughline from the nihilistic energy of the 1990s to the more regulated, but still morally gray, landscape of the 2000s. The film’s mood is built on stark contrasts: the neon-lit pulses of crime-era Moscow versus the sober, procedural pace of political power; the casual brutality of gang violence against the steady, almost bureaucratic veneer of wealth and influence. The result is a sprawling, character-driven tale about how violence, ambition, and the pursuit of capital shape lives—and how choices made in youth echo across years, reshaping a nation as much as a person.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 16:47