‘Gop-stop’ is Russian criminal slang for a mugging, a street robbery
that uses violence or threats of violence. Nevertheless, this comedy is
not about Russian crooks, and its principal characters are ‘gopniki’: a
term that refers to a sub-culture of Russian petty swindlers, which around
90% of Russian provincial youth aspire to join; people who somehow
will find some way that will allow them to make a couple of
hundred dollars. The screenwriter does not ridicule how these guys
soup up their cheap cars, cut the hair on their foreheads, or wear Chinese
tracksuits – this is just the way they live. The irony lies in theirmotivations,
in the fact that human greed sometimes overshadows everything
else. The director Pavel Bardin, creator of the controversial
movie Russia 88 about Russian fascists, which did not receive a wide
showing in Russia, sticks to his beliefs and is shooting his new movie
for a very modest sum – half a million dollars, in fact. The movie’s soundtrack
features contributions by Russian rap musicians famous for
their savage lyrics.
