The makers characterize the genre of the film depicting the gangland gun battles in Russia in the first half of the 1990s as a "boundless comedy." Sergei Makovetsky, who performed one of the main roles, brought the film to New York and presented it to the local public.
A whole galaxy of Russian actors - Nikita Mikhalkov, Dmitry Dyuzhev, Alexei Panin, Viktor Sukhorukov, Renata Litvinova, Garik Sukachev, Zhanna Bolotova, Tatyana Dogileva, Dmitry Pevtsov, Andrei Merzlikin, Yuri Stepanov and Grigory Siyatvinda - acted in Zhmurki together with Sergei Makovetsky.
"Mr. Balabanov wanted to make simultaneously art-cinema and a criminal comedy for 'spectators', and there is a feeling that he succeeded in doing so," Mr. Makovetsky told RIA Novosti. "I acted in Zhmurki with immense pleasure because I had never before performed a role of such a 'thug' in a crimson coat. I can say the same about my partners in the film - all of them, including the performers of the episodic roles, wanted to behave like a hooligan because the caricature plot prompted to do so. As a result, a very funny film was made, in my view."
"No Russian films have been widely shown in the USA since the time of Little Vera," organizer of the New York shows of Zhmurki and head of Our Cinema company Grigory Vinnikov noted for his part. "We succeeded in convincing producer of the film Sergei Selyanov to let it be shown at US movie-theatres before its first show in Russia which is scheduled for June 2. The idea is to outstrip the video pirates. Usually, already a fortnight after the beginning of the show of a film in Russia, its pirate copies appear in the USA. If such a situation persisted, it made no sense to engage in the film's distribution, and to plan to attract great audiences."
