Dead Man's Bluff

The film opens in 2005 with a professor lecturing a group of university students on the primitive accumulation of capital. By way of example, she mentions how capital was accumulated during the 1990s.

The film flashes to Nizhny Novgorod in 1995, to an interrogation scene between a torturer, nicknamed "the Executioner", and a gagged prisoner in a morgue. Before the torturer can start the interrogation, three masked men barge in with pistols. A gunfight ensues and one of the masked men is killed as well as the prisoner and the torturer has been shot in the stomach. The leader of the masked men takes off his disguise and it is revealed that he is a police officer (nicknamed "the Cop"). Stepan shoots the man in the head and then shoots his own partner. Stepan takes a piece of paper from the torturer's pocket and seems excited by what he reads on it.

The film then introduces the audience to three gangsters. Standing around and smoking cigarettes at a football stadium, the trio discusses their current lack of "jobs" due to an "operation" a month ago that ended in a bloodbath, forcing the group to lay low. The two ethnically Russian men in the group, Koron and Bala, consistently make fun of Baklazhan ("Eggplant") because of his African ethnicity—even though he was born in Russia, the other two seemingly refuse to accept he is a Russian and insist on calling him Ethiopian. The trio get a phone call from Stepan, who offers to meet them at the zoo to discuss a new job.

The film jumps to the protagonists, Semyon (nicknamed "Simon") and Sergei, two young bandits working for Sergei Mikhailovich (usually referred to as "Mikhalych"), a local crime boss who controls the drug trade in the city. Upon learning that a visiting chemist nicknamed "the Doctor" has established a drug lab in the neighborhood, Mikhalych sends Simon and Sergei to intimidate the Doctor to start paying protection money.

Sergei appears to be the smarter of the two, doing all the talking. Throughout the film, Sergei is seen carrying around a leather folder, which he instinctively clutches in front of him in moments of danger. Simon is tall, strong, and more taciturn: a ruthless killer with spring-loaded guns hidden in the wide sleeves of his trench coat. Simon learns English from comics and and demonstrates a love for everything Western, especially rock music.

After arriving at the lab, Sergei explains to the Doctor why they are there. The Doctor scoffs at them and calls two armed associates into the room. Simon and Sergei kill both of them, but while they are discussing what they will do with him, the Doctor tries to shoot Sergei with a pistol strapped to the underside of the desk. Simon instinctively shoots the Doctor. The two decide to collect the Doctor's drugs into a shoebox to appease Mikhalych. When the two see Mikhalych, he is furious; he takes the drugs and orders him to leave his sight. They drive to a bar and hope he will forgive them.

After the two leave, one of Mikhalych's guards informs him of the murder of the Executioner. Mikhalych instructs the guard to call Stepan, senior lieutenant Stepan Voronov, to find the killer - Mikhalych does not know that Stepan was the killer. He gives Sergei and Simon one last chance — he orders them to see Borschansky, nicknamed "the Lawyer", and exchange a suitcase full of money for a suitcase with five kilograms of heroin. On the way to the Lawyer, they stop at a McDonald’s, where they meet their old friend, the bandit Kaban; Kaban tries to convince Sergei to go legit and advises them him to think about moving to Moscow.

Unknown to the duo, Stepan learnt about the deal that they are heading to make in the torture scene. Stepan hires Koron and his two associates to intercept Sergei and Simon, promising them part of the money in the suitcase. Shortly after, Stepan also hires another bandit, a longtime enemy of his nicknamed "Mozg", to kill Koron's gang and deliver the money after the job. The gangsters, wearing masks, ambush Sergei and Simon after the exchange and take the suitcase from them at gunpoint (strictly following Stepan's instructions and thinking that the suitcase is full of money).

By the time Simon and Sergei come to Mikhalych, he already knows about the robbery and only scolds them for their lack of foresight, as he already suspects who the rat is. He orders the two to find Stepan, discover where the drugs were taken, and then kill him. The duo arrive to Stepan's apartment and torture him. Stepan confesses that he was behind the ambush and tells them where to find Koron and the heroin. After this, Simon kills Stepan. The two come to the conclusion that Stepan killed the Executioner.

Sergei and Simon go to Koron's apartment, but only find Baklazhan there, who they promptly tie up. Koron had left earlier to try to find Stepan and inform him about the heroin, not knowing that he had already been killed; meanwhile, Bala stepped out to buy some cigarettes and prepare for the three to escape from the city. Simon puts on music on Baklazhan's vinyl player; meanwhile, Sergei begins to search the apartment for the heroin, but only finds a bag with guns and three ski masks in the closet. Before Baklazhan's associates return, Mozg enters the apartment with his henchmen. Simon and Sergei kill them but leave Mozg alive, who they also tie up. A neighbor bothered by the loud music comes calling and attempts to threaten Simon, who forces him into a closet and shoots him through the door.

Mozg, still tied up, begins to threaten and swear at the duo and Sergei kills him with a sudden shot to the temple, covering Baklazhan, who was sitting next to him, with blood and brains. Soon after, Koron and Bala return to the apartment, and on discovering the situation, initially pretend that they entered the wrong apartment. Eventually, Koron gives up the location of the heroin and Sergei invites them to play a round of Russian Roulette for each of the trio, which he calls "Zhmurki" ("blind man's buff"). One by one, they are led to the kitchen to play. Koron ends up dying with the first shot. Bala demands that Sergei plays, too. Sergei agrees, but he puts his leather folder between his head and the gun when he pulls the trigger. The revolver doesn't fire. After this, Bala, shaking in fear, pulls the trigger and also dies.

Meanwhile, Baklazhan has freed himself from the ropes and has gotten a hold of a gun forgotten behind by Sergei. He shoots Sergei, wounding him in the stomach, and is then killed by Simon.

As Sergei lays bleeding on the couch, lamenting that he forgot his folder behind, Simon calls a friend, a punk named Lyoshik, who is a medical student. Lyoshik takes a hit of cocaine and pulls out a medical textbook, then takes the bullet out of Sergei. Meanwhile, Simon opens Sergei's leather folder and discovers a thick steel plate inside. He returns the folder to Sergei and they leave the apartment. Recalling their conversation with Kaban, Sergei and Simon decide to flee to Moscow and stop working for Mikhalych. They take the heroin with them, using it as their "start-up capital".

The film then flashes forward to 2005. Sergei is now a State Duma deputy and Simon is his assistant. Together, they own a securities trading firm. Mikhalych now works for them as a security guard, and his son Vladik works for the due as an errand boy. Looking back, Sergei tells Simon that he thinks that Kaban ripped them off when buying the heroin from them. Simon objects and says that there is no need to kill Kaban - to which Sergei agrees. Simon states that living in Russia, compared to the 1990s, has become more difficult.

Approximately 50 liters of fake blood were used in the film. With the exception of a few scenes in Moscow, the film was shot in Tver, the city formerly known as Kalinin, and Nizhny Novgorod, the city known as Gorky in Soviet times.

This film is a first attempt at a comedic movie by Balabanov. The movie serves as a dark humor farce on typical gangster movies that were prevalent within Russian society in the 1990s. The movie received mixed reviews, with some critics writing disparaging reviews stating that the plot left much to be desired and most of the jokes fell flat, while others argued that the movie was a successful attempt by Balabanov to add a new movie genre to his repertoire.

• Florian Weinhold (2013), Path of Blood: The Post-Soviet Gangster, His Mistress and Their Others in Aleksei Balabanov's Genre Films, Reaverlands Books: North Charleston, SC: pp. 115–138.

• Aleksei Panin as Sergei
• Dmitriy Dyuzhev as Simon
• Nikita Mikhalkov as Sergei Mikhailovich
• Sergey Makovetskiy as Koron
• Viktor Sukhorukov as Stepan
• Anatoly Zhuravlyov as Bala
• Grigory Siyatvinda as Eggplant
• Aleksei Serebryakov as Doctor
• Garik Sukachov as Brain
• Andrey Panin as Architector
• Kirill Pirogov as Executioner
• Yuriy Stepanov as Kaban
• Renata Litvinova as Waitress/Secretary Katya
• Zhanna Bolotova as University Professor
• Tatyana Dogileva as Galya/Lawyer's Secretary
• Andrey Krasko as Neighbour disturbed by the loud music
• Alexandr Bashirov as Man tied to the chair
• Andrey Merzlikin as Security guard
• Viktor Bychkov as Boy's father in zoo
• Sergey Glazunov as Leshik (medicine student)
• Vladislav Tolochko as Vladik
• Yevgeny Kosyrev as Grown-up Vladik
• Dmitry Pevtsov as Lawyer Borschansky
• Oleg Osaenko as Madman with a gun

• Dead Man's Bluff at AllMovie
• Dead Man's Bluff at IMDb
• Trailer and Screenshots