Brothers, money, and Gauga

Money from Almetyevsk, footage from Kazan and Sochi

Renat Sayga (Karimov) is a native of Naberezhnye Chelny, a graduate of the Kama Polytechnic Institute (Department of Automotive Engineering). He also studied at the Kazan film school “Tochka Kino” and the Chelny studio Liberty as an actor. He has directed several short films: “Brothers," “Ostazbikä" (based on a story by Gayaz Iskhaki, which won the award for “Best Muslim Film from Russia” at the Lajward Film Festival in Afghanistan). In 2022, he began preparing his feature debut under the working title “Activation.” As a result, the film first became “Adventurer," then “Adventurers.” Last year, it won the Audience Award at the “Altyn Minbar” Film Festival and is now being prepared for distribution.

The film was initially planned to be shot in Almetyevsk, where the investors who believed in the project are based. However, when cinematographer Konstantin Shamraev scouted the Kazan locations, it was decided to move the filming to the republic's capital. Production took place in the summer of 2024, and everything was completed in 26 shifts. Besides Kazan, final scenes were shot in Sochi. Overall, the film features more than 60 locations and as many actors. In short, a feat of organization.

Renat Sayga wrote the script for the film with Andrey Rumyantsev. He is known under the pseudonym Fyodor Krestovy and participated in the creation of the comedy “Vacations with Strict Regime” starring Sergey Bezrukov. He also wrote, for example, the book “How to Survive in the Zone: Advice from an Experienced Prisoner.”

It is precisely into prison that the main character, Vladimir Romanov (Viktor Mikhailov), ends up after trying to steal money from a certain Oleg Suvorin (Sergey Mardar). He gets caught at a corporate event where his band, Gauga, is performing. Yes, the Kazan band is featured in the film, with several of their songs playing (translated into Russian, with the voice of lead singer Oscar Yunusov). Romanov supposedly stole the money to shoot a high-budget music video for the band. Mikhailov, an actor active in TV series (such as “Subscription for Investigation”), himself played in the Krasnoyarsk synth-pop band “Tvoye Daleko.”

Stole, played, went to prison

After being released a year later, Romanov is put “on the meter”: he now owes Suvorin 20 million rubles. His brother, a lawyer named Yasha (Sergey Beskhlebnov), tells him that he has information about an “orphanage princess” named Alena (Angelina Tikhonova), whose newly discovered father bequeathed her his entire fortune (including, for example, the building of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts of Tatarstan). Now Romanov must marry her.

Romanov begins a relationship with the hairdresser Alena through a feigned love of animals. Everything is going well between them, but Vladimir's debt collectors learn about the heiress, as does Suvorin himself, who needs even more money to partner with other criminals in a major business (these roles are played by fencing masters Oleg and Viktor Mazurenko).

In short, everyone takes a risk, but at the last moment, the brothers and Alena outwit everyone and come out on top.

Among the Tatarstan actors in the film, one can see former prima of the Kamal Theater Nafisa Khairullina (she plays Yasha's wife), Ruslan Yanvarev and Timur Khairullin (two dim-witted guards of Suvorin), Ilnur Garifullin (a banker's guard), and Kamil Gataullin (a cameo as a lawyer).

Sayga makes commercial, dynamic cinema, drawing, conditionally, on influences like Gaidai and Guy Ritchie, where the viewer is never given a moment to ponder: are there any positive heroes in this story?

Faster, more beautiful, tougher

The film begins with a chase scene and dynamic music (by Yusuf Bikchantaev), showing glimpses of Kazan from a drone, a luxurious cottage somewhere in the Pestrechinsky district, the “Old Piano” restaurant, and the National Library of Tatarstan.

An alpaca wanders around the main character's apartment, and the banker's meeting with Suvorin takes place at the Car Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts. A helicopter appears for a moment, and in the finale, the band rocks out in Sochi. It's what you'd call full-on.

The characters are defined by a few traits that drive them through the script. For example, Viktor Mikhailov is true to the heartthrob hero archetype — tall, with blue eyes. Interestingly, he doesn't participate in any fights, though there are many in the film — thugs beat each other up with gusto. His brother Yasha is constantly worried: about Vova, about his wife... The characters try to speak in aphorisms, as if the film is already being prepared for an English dub, acting with their faces, maintaining a certain style.

As for the comedy, the authors have inserted some rather crude prison jokes into the text, which somewhat undercut its otherwise good-natured tone.

Let's put it this way: it's indeed an aggressively fun story, focused on the plot rather than developing psychological portraits of the characters. Yet even here, unexpected details emerge: for example, with the guards — by the expression on Yanvarev's character's face towards the finale, we understand his relationship with the boss is not so simple.

Alena, however, remains a rather enigmatic character — at first she appears to be a naive environmental activist who doesn't want her father's money, but then suddenly changes her attitude. Overall, “Adventurers” is a film full of wealth and speed, but it lacks a bit of detailed feminine beauty (and we're not talking about the scene with the prostitute). In the end, the hero looks quite happy as a henpecked husband — after all, all the money still belongs to his wife.