Mostly superb, history as seen thru a comic ‘dribble’ glass darkly, and closer to the facts than many a ‘straight’ Based-On-A-True-Story period piece.* Riffing off comic book accounts by Fabien Nury & Thierry Robin, writer/director Armando Iannucci moves past the political shenanigans of his VEEP series to bring off a survival-of-the-fittest roundelay as danced by the monstrous circle of terrified Stalin enablers played in the wake of the old man’s botched death throes, a backstabbing struggle to coalesce on the right strongman to fill Uncle Joe’s shoes. By turns appalling & hilarious with proscribed officials returning to prominence, would-be mourners massacred after a failure to communicate and even the occasional ‘dead’ man awakes. Wonderfully orchestrated by Iannucci who gets great work from his all-star cast of character actors (Steve Busemi’s Khrushchev & Jason Isaac’s Field Marshall Zhukov standouts). Not without faults, the tone proves difficult to maintain and there’s Iannucci’s over-reliance on quick comic reversals, they feel like leftover comic tics from VEEP or his earlier IN THE LOOP/’09. But make no mistake, this is a major voice speaking up and visually a great leap forward; technically very adept with a big assist from Zac Nicholson’s expert digital lensing. Director & cinematographer currently prepping a new DAVID COPPERFIELD feature which will hopefully enliven & respect the material with similar smarts, zest & rudeness. (Another 'R'-rated Family Friendly label; 13 and up, not the kiddies.)
DOUBLE-BILL: Nice to see Michael Palin here as Vyacheslav Molotov (of the eponymous ‘cocktails,’ thrown at him, BTW), hardy supporter & survivor of both the Russian Revolution and of Stalin (just barely). Palin’s great Monty Python pic, LIFE OF BRIAN/’79, as good a match as any for this film’s unusual tone.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Any World History teachers out there? Here’s a surprisingly legit way to goose interest!
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