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The Death of Stalin, Armando Iannucci

Started by MoonDust, August 11, 2017, 01:14:30 PM

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Small Man Big Horse

The AV Club's posted a short review:

QuoteOne of Platform's best films, and probably its most high-profile, is opening night selection The Death Of Stalin (Grade: B+). The latest uproarious political comedy from Veep creator Armando Iannucci, it shares with his other films and television shows a vision of government as a magnet for the weak, petty, stupid, incompetent, and amoral. In this case, the viper's nest is Soviet Russia, directly before and after Joseph Stalin was found dead in his office circa March of 1953, when a gaping void of leadership opened up and several members of the tyrant's inner circle began scrambling to consolidate power.

Iannucci assembles a terrific cast of mostly American and British actors (including Steve Buscemi, Jeffrey Tambor, and Simon Russell Beale) and demands none of them adopt Russian accents. Beyond a certain pardoxical integrity (it's not like Russians walk around Russia speaking English in a Russian accent, so why bother with the half-measure?), this oddball choice only underlines the parallel Iannucci is drawing between these literally cutthroat politics and the less murderous (but still deceitful) kind his London and Washington characters practice. The Death Of Stalin isn't quite as pointed or rat-a-tat funny as In The Loop (or Veep at its best), but its application of his signature barbed comic voice to such grim history (executions are a constant source of gallows humor) packs its own punch.

https://www.avclub.com/will-the-creator-of-veep-win-an-award-in-toronto-for-hi-1809066727

Twit 2




Bhazor

I'm just so happy to see Michael Palin again.

MoonDust

A new trailer out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GIDw2l5nDE

I think I'm going to enjoy Jason Isaac's character.

Sin Agog

It's just nice to see him playing someone other than a villainous doctor character for once.  The trailers even make it seem like Armando's riffing on some of his recent dastardly villain roles for jokes.

Can't wait for this.

Twit 2


Norton Canes


Serge


buntyman

Saw it tonight on the Odeon Unseen preview thing, rather enjoyed it.

Twit 2


Namtab

Saw it today, absolutely loved it. Iannuci has clearly become much more confident as a director, and the performances alone make it worth the trip. Beale is so, so brilliant.

MoonDust

Already seen at least two news pieces moaning about the historical inaccuracies in the film, such as General Zhukov (played by Jason Isaacs) in real life wasn't leader of the Red Army in 1953 and had in fact been viewed as a threat by Stalin and replaced in 1946.

On the other hand people are reckoning that it's a reflection of how Stalin himself loved to distort and revise history.

Think they're reading too much into it.

It's a comedy film; there's more leeway for artistic license when it comes to accuracy than say, a serious film about Stalin's death.

DukeDeMondo

Iannucci was on with Kermode and Mayo for twenty minutes or so earlier on. https://youtu.be/QjOBWK6WkL4

olliebean

My local bastard Vue has decided not to show this at all. So I guess I won't be seeing it for a while. <fume>

Waking Life

I saw the preview at BFI on Wed and thought it was excellent. Darker than In The Loop (which also had a heavy subject matter), but without sacrificing humour. Probably the most 'black comedy' Iannucci has done and the performances are pretty much uniformly excellent (literally in Jason Isaac's case).

A lot has been written about the Brexit parallels, which I suppose is true, but is something that could be said for most political comedy. It reminded me of Spinners and Losers more than anything else he has done in terms of the urgency of the plotting (in both senses of the word) and calamity.

Buscemi and Palin are the standouts for me.

Surprised anyone would highlight historical inaccuracies in something that is clearly meant to be a farce. It feels no less fictitious than The Thick of It from the get go.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

I saw it last night. It's tremendously funny, although the laughs ebb and flow a bit. The opening 20 or so minutes are flat out hilarious, then things calm down a bit (just a bit) while the plot pieces all move into place, then more hilarity.

The whole cast is fantastic. I only knew Jason Isaacs and Rupert Friend from dramatic roles, so their comic turns were a nice surprise.

The audience at our screening skewed toward the old. I think we were the youngest people by at least two decades. We were also the ones laughing the hardest, so I wonder if the old timers were expecting a serious historical drama.

Quote from: Waking Life on October 21, 2017, 12:22:05 PM
A lot has been written about the Brexit parallels, which I suppose is true, but is something that could be said for most political comedy.
I think I caught an oblique reference to 'fake news'.

Cuellar

Saw it this afternoon, entertaining enough way to spend a couple of hours.

Simon Russell Beale is excellent - a horrible man (Beria).

I thought Paul Whitehouse's delivery of one of the penultimate lines was brilliant.

I found myself wanting to laugh at it more than I actually laughed at it, but I enjoyed it.

Mark Steels Stockbroker

Quote from: MoonDust on October 20, 2017, 10:58:38 AM
Already seen at least two news pieces moaning about the historical inaccuracies in the film, such as General Zhukov (played by Jason Isaacs) in real life wasn't leader of the Red Army in 1953 and had in fact been viewed as a threat by Stalin and replaced in 1946.

However Zhukov was a key player in the coup that got rid of Beria. Though Beria's downfall was provoked by riots in East Berlin, not Moscow.

But it's clearly not set in our world as it is in a place where things are labelled in both Russian and English.

It's ok, though I prefer Red Monarch, with David Suchet as the NKVD boss and young David Threlfall as Stalin's son.

I wonder if there is a more raucous Director's Cut of TDOS, and the cinema release was sobered up a bit to avoid getting condemned in America for taking the subject too lightly. I hated the captions that appeared over the opening scenes, may as well have just had "STALIN WAS BAD" as well.

Mark Steels Stockbroker

Quote from: Cuellar on October 21, 2017, 05:52:36 PM
Saw it this afternoon, entertaining enough way to spend a couple of hours.

Simon Russell Beale is excellent - a horrible man (Beria).

I thought Paul Whitehouse's delivery of one of the penultimate lines was brilliant.

I found myself wanting to laugh at it more than I actually laughed at it, but I enjoyed it.


Paul Whitehouse and Michael Palin are 2 performers who cannot fail to be funny regardless of whatever shit they're appearing in.

buzby

Saw this tonight (though I did have to go and get my wallet emptied at the local Picturehouse affiliate). The cast was fantastic.

It does highlight the real absurdity of Stalinist Russia - there's the constant background noise of poor unfortunatnates on Beria's lists getting shot and tortured, and it got to the point that I even started laughing at the casual nature of it all interspersed with the actual comedy. Simon Russell Beale's Beria is the star of the show really - manipulative, sarcastic, sadistic and slimy, it's a relief to see him get what's coming to him. Buscemi is great as the put-upon Khrushchev, the 'reasonable' one who is being driven mad by the idiocy around him and the constant butt of Beria's jibes. Palin is adorable as the dotty Molotov, tying himself in idealogical knots trying to justify the actions of  the committee, and Whitehouse more than holds his own against the rest of the cast as the scheming survivor Mikoyan. Jason Issacs also clearly was having the time of his life as hard bastard Zhukov, played like the Duke Of Wellington if he was from Yorkshire.

non capisco

The "we could pretend it's part of the ceremony" bit slayed me. Buscemi has immaculate comedy chops.


asids

Watched this tonight (or last night, technically). It was very good. Funny and as others said it captured the spirit of Stalinist Russia and made you just laugh at the ridiculousness of it. There were some parts that lulled a bit, 10 minute periods where there wasn't much laughs with just advancement in the plot or the characters, but that's fine, because then there would be about three or four laugh out loud stuff in a row.

Quote from: non capisco on October 21, 2017, 11:38:31 PM
The "we could pretend it's part of the ceremony" bit slayed me. Buscemi has immaculate comedy chops.

That bit was brilliant, I think it was the bit that got the biggest laughs in the cinema. Buscemi and Beale were the real standouts.

Dex Sawash

I fucked around and have missed this, not showing near me in us.



Cuellar

I don't think it trivialises anything. The first thing we all said to each other at the end was 'God that was brutal'.

dr beat

Saw it last night and enjoyed it immensely, planning a repeat viewing soon, although I agree it goes a little heavy on the

Quote"STALIN WAS BAD"

message.

But great performances all round, what a cast.  Paddy Considine also did well with a relatively small but important part.