Review: Death of Stalin (2017)

[sailorkitty]

A screwball comedy of errors about the death of the leader of a Military junta, and resulting power games.

Stalin(Adrian Mcloughlin) is dead. The next man who has eyes on the throne is the head of the military police, Lavrentiy Beria(Simon Russell Beale). He is noticeably more of a prick than the rest of the rest of the junta, which include the comparatively more sympathetic ineffectual schemer Nikita Khrushchev(Steve Buscemi), loyal old Stalinist Vyacheslav Molotov(Michael Palin), and weak-willed puppet leader Georgy Malenkov(Jeffrey Tambor). Therefore, Beria must be done away with before he does away with the rest of the junta. The junta must also deal with funeral arrangements and Stalin’s children.

It’s far, far funnier than it sounds. The humour is black-coffee dark, stemming mostly from farcical dialogue and comic misunderstandings that seem to be taken from the non-existent crossover episode of Allo Allo meets Withnail & I. Buscemi’s Kruschev is calculating, if never entirely nice (Nobody is ’nice’ in this junta, and the film never lets you forget that). Beale plays a faux-affable, ultimately repulsive ’villain’ in the form of serial rapist Beria, who mows over everyone in increasingly horrifying ways.

Stalin’s daughter Svetlana(Andrea Riseborough) is gloriously naive over the resulting power struggle, and her brother Vasily(Rupert Friend) is a comically failed alcoholic who might as well be ax-crazy. The only person who dares stand up to him? Leader of the Russian army, Georgy Zhukov(Jason Isaacs). Who just happens to be the largest ham in the room. Words cannot express how exuberantly gung-ho he is about being the Biggest Baddest Jock in the Whole Soviet Union; It must be witnessed.

This is a cartoonish adaptation of events. That said, some of the more outlandish elements are surprisingly toned down from their basis in reality. Nobody speaks Russian: Everyone speaks English. To simulate ’non-burgoise Russian’, dialects are appropriately regional and connoted to the working class. References are made that fly over the heads of people unfamiliar with Russian culture, such as Nijinsky or the Disappearance of the Russian Hockey Team. One of the jokes is translated wordplay, which sounds even funnier within Russian context. These small, cultural instances make it seem more like a story written because someone found the turn of events in Russian history deeply comical, rather than a story that could have taken place anywhere(but just happens to be set at Stalin’s funeral).

The actors are greased-up and deliver very well on the concept. As a vehicle for uncomfortable laughs set in Soviet Russia, the film delivers hard, fast, and well.

Final score: 9/10.

Comments

[sonofgodzilla]

I don't know why but I totally failed to realise that Buscemi was in this and playing Kruschev no less! That kind of sells me right there!

[sailorkitty]

I've never really gotten his appeal (That is to say, I've never known of any of his 'great roles', perhaps he just isn't in films that interest me a lot), but he does capture the essence really well, in a very human way.

[sonofgodzilla]

I feel like he portrays middle age and failure really well. Like, really relatable, lol.

Regardless, I'm adding this to my watch list, thank you!

[greghousesgf]

I love this movie, of course I'm sold on anything that would have both Steve Buscemi and Michael Palin.

[sailorkitty]

And again, there's another person that I haven't heard of. Possibly due to not being the best at today's cinema..

[greghousesgf]

which one had you not heard of, Steve Buscemi or Michael Palin?

[sailorkitty]

Both of them, before this post. I'd seen Buscemi's name around here and there, but I somehow got it into my mind that he was a director.

[greghousesgf]

Michael Palin is one of the Monty Python guys.

[sailorkitty]

Wait, what!? Really? I feel bad now. Monthy Python is family education over here.