Bigga Than Ben is a crime-fuelled tale of two likeable but wayward Russian "pieces of Moscow scum" who arrive in London intent on bettering themselves and amassing an easy fortune. But it's not long before Spiker (Andrei Chadov) and Cobakka (Ben Barnes) realise that, legally, they aren't going to get very far. So, aided by the dodgy Artash (Ovidiu Matesan) and sidekick Spartak (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin), they learn to shoplift from supermarkets, rip off banks, joyride on the tube and turn mobile
phones into crack. . Finding themselves drawn into a shadowy underworld of backstreet drug deals, chav nightclubs, refugees and nymphomaniacs, life begins to turn sour. The highs begin to fade. Spiker badly misses his girlfriend back in Moscow, and seeks consolation in drugs. When he slips into serious addiction and Artash double-crosses them, Cobakka finds himself forced into making some life-changing decisions.
Bigga Than Ben is small-scale, episodic and not without its sins of omission. But it looks as if it speaks the truth and is considerably more entertaining and thought-provoking than most of the week's other offerings.
It tails off into a confusing ending, but Bigga Than Ben is still honest, funny and provocative enough to wind up Daily Mail and Guardian readers alike.
Where she's less sure is the disintegration of the friendship between Spiker and Cobakka. It's less than convincing and strangely unaffecting because - to be brutally honest - they're both a pair of neo-Nazi gits.
It's a depressing, grubby-looking little film with an undercurrent of particularly mean-spirited misogyny. You wonder what Suzie Halewood, the director, was thinking.
The performances are spiky, the use of varied locations is fresh and the dialogue - 'How could I ever imagine that I, a Moscow hooligan and Nazi would become a negro lover?' - is warmingly non-exemplary.
what a strange film! i watched this today on iplayer... and did not know what to expect at all. basically, two russian fellows come over to london so that they can defile the system and take whatever they can. they're racist, greedy and not very nice. in fact there were a lot of racist undetones in this one? avoid this
one; should be easy.
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