THE DEATH OF STALIN [2017 / 2018] [Blu-ray] [UK Release] The Funniest British Film In Years! In The Kremlin, No One Can Hear You Scheme!
In the days following Josef Stalin’s collapse, his core team of ministers tussle for control; some want positive change in the Soviet Union, others have more sinister motives. Their one common trait, they’re all just desperately trying to remain alive.
Armando Iannucci directs this dark comedy following the final days of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin [Adrian McLoughlin] and life and the pandemonium that came after his death. Set in 1953, feared leader Stalin is taken ill and dies. Soon after, those closest to him fight for their chance at power. The all-star cast includes Jason Isaacs, Steve Buscemi, Rupert Friend, Jeffrey Tambor and Michael Palin.
It is a film that combines comedy, drama, pathos and political manoeuvring. ‘THE DEATH OF STALIN’ is a Quad and Main Journey production, and produced by Yann Zenou, Kevin Loader, Nicolas Duval Assakovsky, and Laurent Zeitoun. The script is written by Armando Iannucci, David Schneider and Ian Martin, with additional material by Peter Fellows.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 2017 British Independent Film Awards: Win: Best Supporting Actor for Simon Russell Beale. Win: Best Casting for Sarah Crowe. Win: Best Make-Up & Hair Design for Nicole Stafford. Win: Best Production Design for Cristina Casali. Nominated: Best British Independent Film. Nominated: Best Director for Armando Iannucci. Nominated: Best Screenplay for Armando Iannucci, David Schneider and Ian Martin. Nominated: Best Supporting Actress for Andrea Riseborough. Nominated: Best Supporting Actor for Steve Buscemi. Nominated: Best Costume Design for Suzie Harman. Nominated: Best Effects. Nominated: Best Editing for Peter Lambert. Nominated: Best Music for Christopher Willis. 2017 Torino Film Festival: Win: FIPRESCI Prize for Armando Iannucci. Nominated: Prize of the City of Torino for Best Feature Film for Armando Iannucci. 2017 Toronto International Film Festival: Nominated: Platform Prize for Armando Iannucci. 2018 BAFTA Film Awards: Nominated: Best Screenplay (Adapted) for Armando Iannucci, David Schneider and Ian Martin. Nominated: Outstanding British Film of the Year for Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Ian Martin, Kevin Loader , Laurent Zeitoun and Yann Zenou. 2018 BAFTA Scotland Award: Win: Best Director (Fiction) for Armando Iannucci. Win: Best Writer for Film/Television for Armando Iannucci. 2018 European Film Awards: Win: European Film Award for European Comedy for Armando Iannucci. Nominated: Audience Award for Armando Iannucci. 2018 Empire Awards, UK: Win: Best Comedy. Nominated: Best British Film. Nominated: Best Screenplay for Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Fabien Nury and Ian Martin. Nominated: Best Costume Design. 2018 European Film Awards: Win: European Film Award for European Comedy for Armando Iannucci. Nominated: Audience Award for Armando Iannucci. 2018 Evening Standard British Film Awards: Win: Best Supporting Actor for Simon Russell Beale. Nominated: Best Supporting Actor for Jason Isaacs. Nominated: Best Supporting Actress for Andrea Riseborough. 2018 Film Club's The Lost Weekend: Win: Lost Weekend Award for Best Supporting Actor for Steve Buscemi (actor). Win: Lost Weekend Award for Best Ensemble Cast for Armando Iannucci (director). 2018 Göteborg Film Festival: Nominated: Dragon Award: International Competition for Armando Iannucci. 2018 Hollywood Music In Media Awards: Nominated: Best Original Score for an Independent Film for Christopher Willis. 2018 International Film Music Critics Award: Win: Best Original Score for a Comedy Film for Christopher Willis. 2018 Legionnaires of Laughter Legacy Awards: Nominated: Legacy Award for Best Political Comedy Film Quad Productions Company. 2018 Monte-Carlo Comedy Film Festival: Win: Jury Prize for Best Director for Armando Iannucci. 2018 National Board of Review, USA: Win: NBR Award for Top Ten Independent Film. 2019 Chlotrudis Awards: Nominated: Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast. 2019 Gold Derby Awards: Nominated: Adapted Screenplay for Armando Iannucci, David Schneider and Ian Martin. 2019 International Cinephile Society Awards: Nominated: Best Adapted Screenplay for Armando Iannucci, David Schneider and Ian Martin. 2019 Magritte Awards, Belgium: Nominated: Best Foreign Film in Co-Production (Meilleur film étranger en coproduction) for Gaëtan David (producer) and Compagnie Cinématographique, La (production company). 2019 USC Scripter Award: Nominated: Film for Armando Iannucci (screenwriter), David Schneider (screenwriter), Ian Martin (screenwriter), Fabien Nury (author) and Thierry Robin (author). Based on the graphic novel by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin.
FILM FACT No.2: The project began development during the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Armando Iannucci was set as director and writer, alongside his co-writer Ian Martin. Production was due to begin in June, with Jeffrey Tambor, Steve Buscemi, Olga Kurylenko, Timothy Dalton, Toby Kebbell, Michael Palin, Simon Russell Beale, Paddy Considine and Andrea Riseborough amongst the cast. Production began on June 20, with Adrian McLoughlin, Rupert Friend, Jason Isaacs and Paul Whitehouse joining the cast. Dalton and Kebbell ultimately did not appear in the film. Filming locations included Kiev, Ukraine for exteriors scenes and exterior of Public Enemies building and NKVD building, and the United Kingdom (at Blythe House, Freemasons’ Hall and Alexandra Palace in London, Mongewell Park in Oxford, Hammersmith Town Hall in London.
Cast: Olga Kurylenko, Tom Brooke, Paddy Considine, Justin Edwards, Adrian McLoughlin, Simon Russell Beale, Jeffrey Tambor, Steve Buscemi, Michael Palin, Paul Ready, Yulya Muhrygina, Andrey Korzhenevskiy, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Jeremy Limb, Andy Gathergood, Alexandr Piskunov, Ruslav Neupokoev, Alla Bineeva, Nicholas Woodeson, Elaine Claxton, George Potts, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Nicholas Sidi, Jonny Phillips, Alex Harvey-Brown, Tim Steed, June Watson, Adam Shaw, Daniel Tuite, David Crow, Dermot Crowley, Paul Whitehouse, Paul Chahidi, Karl Johnson, Cara Horgan, Emilio Iannucci, Daniel Booroff, Andrea Riseborough, Dan Mersh, Rupert Friend, Richard Brake, James Barriscale, Daniel Tatarsky, Ricky Gabbriellini, Eva Sayer, Diana Quick, Adam Ewan, Michael Ballard, Phil Deguara, Jonathan Aris, Katie McCreedy, Ewan Bailey, Jason Isaacs, Leeroy Murray, Keely Smith, Sheng-Chien Tsai, Dave Wong, Sergey Korshkov, Alexander Grigorivev, Olga Dadukevich, Nastya Koshevatskaya, Danila Bochkov, Sebastian Aton, Nastya Karpenko, Amelia McCreedy, Gerald Lepkowski, Luke D'Silva, Daniel Chapple, Daniel Smith, Ellen Evans, Oleg Drach, Daniel Fearn, Rodrig Andrisan (uncredited), Claire Ashton (uncredited), Derek Barr (uncredited), Silva Beshi (uncredited), Martin Bratanov (uncredited), Alex Delescu (uncredited), Glenn Doherty (uncredited), Iulia Filipovscaia (uncredited), Caroline Garnell (uncredited), Robin George (uncredited), Vaslov Goom (uncredited), Jason Grangier (uncredited), Mindaugas Grazys (uncredited), Henry Helm (uncredited), Eloise Henwood (uncredited), Kornelia Horvath (uncredited), Ashley Hudson (uncredited), Attila G. Kerekes (uncredited), Svyatoslav Ketchin (uncredited), Gary Kiely (uncredited), Dardan Kolicaj (uncredited), Alexei Komarov (uncredited), Nigel Lowe (uncredited), Daniel Markowicz (uncredited), Christopher Marsh (uncredited), Alan Mathis (uncredited), Robert McLanachan (uncredited), Yves O'Hara (uncredited), Cadyn Page (uncredited), Jag Patel (uncredited), Steve Saunders (uncredited), Adam Sef (uncredited), Richard Stanley (uncredited), François Sternkiker (uncredited), Matt Townsend (uncredited), Zac Whitehead (uncredited), Dean Williams (uncredited) and Miroslav Zaruba (uncredited)
Director: Armando Iannucci
Producers: Anastasia Shipilova, André Logie, Catherine Dumonceaux, Gaëtan David, Giles Daoust, Jean-Christophe Colson, Kevin Loader, Laurent Zeitoun, Nicolas Duval Adassovsky, Sarah Wheale, Sofia Maltseva, Tanya Sokolova and Yann Zenou
Screenplay: Armando Iannucci (written), David Schneider (written), Ian Martin (written), Peter Fellows (additional material), Fabien Nury (based on the comic book "The Death of Stalin”/original screenplay) and Thierry Robin (based on the comic book "The Death of Stalin")
Composer: Christopher Willis
Cinematography: Zac Nicholson B.S.C., D.O.P. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio Description
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English SDH
Running Time: 106 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Gaumont / eOne Entertainment
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘THE DEATH OF STALIN’ [2017] With the director Armando Iannucci and with a crack comedy troupe take a hatchet to the Soviet tyrant’s cult of personality in a period-comedy diversion that’s dependably close to the bone. After mocking and in some cases significantly underestimating the breath-taking buffoonery and pure naked ambition present in our political leaders and Armando Iannucci has now turned his attention to 1950s Soviet Russia.
The root of the comedy is the cult of personality that Josef Stalin has erected around himself, based on the idea that the tiniest affront to his authority can result in instant death. This is concisely demonstrated in the film’s opening segment, which shows the dictator Joseph Stalin [Adrian McLoughlin] telephoning a radio station to say that he has enjoyed a Mozart concerto and would like a recording of it; panic ensues when the producer Yuri Andreyev [Paddy Considine] realises that no recording has been made. The terrified conductor passes out, another is dragged from his bed to conduct the piece in his pyjamas, and the deeply alarmed audience are locked in the hall so that the concert can be replayed with an identical sense of atmosphere.
This setup, which has been transferred directly from the opening of the graphic novel by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin on which the film is based and is beautifully encapsulates the problem with Joseph Stalin’s creaking regime: even before his death, he has created a power vacuum by turning himself into a kind of mythical creature. When, shortly afterwards, he is felled by a stroke, there is a long pause while members of the Presidium muster the courage to utter the treasonous thought that their infallible leader was, in fact, mortal.
Armando Iannucci is aided and abetted by a quite brilliant cast including Jeffrey Tambor, Paul Whitehouse, Steve Buscemi, Paddy Considine, Jason Isaacs, Rupert Friend, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough, Michael Palin and the oh so impressive Simon Russell Beale as the odious Lavrentiy Beria, who each try to out-manoeuvre the other.
Director Armando Iannucci doesn’t make it easy for himself with ‘THE DEATH OF STALIN.’ The Soviet leader isn’t usually positioned as a comedic target, providing the production with a challenge of tone as it figures out how to find laughs with a man responsible for unrepentant violence, targeting the weak and helpless to reinforce his authority. Armando Iannucci smartly plays it all with some reality, preserving paranoia as leaders and bystanders carefully choose reactions to anything involving Josef Stalin, as death is assured with even the slightest hint of criticism or dissent. The opening of ‘THE DEATH OF STALIN’ provides a direct summary of the moment, with Josef Stalin asking for a recording of an orchestral performance that was broadcast live on the radio. Instead of politely denying the request, engineer Yuri Andreyev madly scrambles to reunite departing musicians and fill the hall with poor people, working to replicate the same symphonic magic, or else he’ll be shot on sight.
There’s a fine line separating horror and hilarity, and ‘THE DEATH OF STALIN’ finds it most of the time, smartly requesting that the actors perform in their natural accents, doing away with vocal study to play the scenes at full volume, offering a mix of British and American talent. Make-up takes care of the illusion, leaving scenes to float on natural chemistry and interpretation, giving the feature a special energy that leads to plenty of funny business. Darkness remains, as Stalin’s reign included a tight schedule of imprisonments, sexual assaults, and executions. Armando Iannucci doesn’t shy away from bloodshed, giving the film some heaviness to prevent a full-out farce, and it helps to have some sense of the country’s political history, with quirks and unsavoury sexual appetites and often added without explanation, giving the endeavour a lived-in presence, even while it plays broadly.
While it may not seem the most obvious source for comedy gold thanks in part to its tyrannical dictator, labour camps, regular executions, secret service and culture of total fear, Armando Iannucci and his co-writers David Schneider, Ian Martin and Peter Fellows have managed to pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat with a wonderful mixture of dry wit, double speak and London theatre Whitehall farce.
THE DEATH OF STALIN MUSIC TRACK LIST
Piano Concerto No.23 in A Major, K488 (Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) [Performed by Galaxy Symphonic Orchestra]
Symphony No.6, Op. 74 in B Minor (Written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky) [Performed by Galaxy Symphonic Orchestra]
Prelude Op. 28, No.4 (Written by Frédéric Chopin)
Blu-ray Image Quality – Gaumont and eOne Entertainment presents us the film ‘THE DEATH OF STALIN’ with a stunning 1080p and is equally enhanced with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, which is very impressive. The image is very sharp and very detailed, and often breathtakingly so. Even with the widest of images you view, it exhibits a tremendous clarity throughout the image frame throughout the film. With the facial expressions you can see all their expressions with good clarity also. Also outstanding are the profusion of colours that are very vivid, but natural at the same time, without looking like they have been digitally manipulated, Shadow detail in dark parts of the film is also of good image clarity. So all in all, this is a very professional and outstanding image presentation on the part of Gaumont and eOne Entertainment. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Gaumont and eOne Entertainment brings us the film ‘THE DEATH OF STALIN’ with a really excellent 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio experience. Dialogue is generally very clear and comprehendible. The audio is nicely rounded and also gives us a good dynamic range and is also very clear, well-modulated sound with no distortion or age-related surface noise, pops, or crackles. Subtleties, such as the delicate chirping of birds and shuffling of feet, are nicely rendered, while sonic sounds like gunfire, thunder, and the slamming of doors provide some good audio presentation. Elmer Bernstein's robust and dramatic film music score fills the room with great ease, and all the soft-spoken dialogue is very easy to understand. But with the film is clean and there is an elegant resonance to this understated track that's quite effective. So once again this is a very good and excellent effort on the part of Gaumont and eOne Entertainment.
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Audio Commentary with Director and Writer Armando Iannucci, and Screenwriters David Schneider, Peter Fellows and Ian Martin: At the start of this audio commentary, Armando Iannucci sarcastically says, “Hello lovers of cinema and film.” And the other people in the recording booth all laugh out loud, then all the other people introduce themselves, starting with Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Peter Fellows and Ian Martin, and of course they inform us we are watching ‘THE DEATH OF STALIN,’ and Armando Iannucci wanted the film at the start to be really beautiful and enjoying the music, because eventually we know tragic events will happen, and it was the first day of shooting, as well as the last shot in the film at the concert again, and was shot in the Shoreditch Town Hall in London, they also filmed in the Hammersmith Town Hall in London. When you see the Central Committee and the men carrying Joseph Stalin to his bed because he had a stroke, in real life this group of men were all friends, but in reality and at the same time they were all back stabbing bastards. When you see the guards chasing after the doctor with his dog, this was shot in Battersea Park in London, and when the doctor is taken away, the dog of course runs off, well Armando Iannucci was originally going to do a film on what happened to the dog and put it on as an extra, but changed his mind. When we get to see the mass shootings and then the set-up of the funeral and the very frenetic composed music in the background, they all praise the composer in getting the mood right, and the funeral with all the flowers was filmed in the Mansion House in London over a two day filming schedule. When you see the Central Committee doing their speech to massive Russian crowd, the shot of the Russian crowd filmed behind them were stock shot, but when you see the Central Committee all lined up doing their speech, it was filmed at an abandoned tennis court in London. When you see the army come into the room where the Central Committee are sorting out what to do next after the funeral of Joseph Stalin and you see Lavrentiy Beria [Simon Russell Beale] get arrested and they take him outside and shoot him point blank and then burn his body, well this was a historically accurate. When we finally come to the end of the film and the end credits roll up the screen and you see very rough black-and-white photos and you see certain people were scratched out, well we are informed that there was a specific department in the Russian Government entitled “The Commissar Vanishes” where it was all about the censoring of photographs and fraudulent creation of "photographs" in Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union through silent alteration via airbrushing and other techniques. Also in the end credits we are informed that the film was based on the comic books “THE DEATH OF STALIN” by Fabien Nury and Theirry Robin and published by DARGAUD who had created a dazzling book, with devastating and cruel humour and a gripping portrait of a dictatorship plunged into madness and was also a fascinating and well-researched graphic novel about the USSR under Joseph Stalin and Armando Iannucci says they tried to stick rigidly and exactly to the style of the comic book as possible. As the main credits roll up the screen, they all start eating crisps and salt beef sandwiches and start larking about, and also start making sarcastic comments about people involved with the the film and if you want to hear who these people are, then of course you will have to buy this amazing Blu-ray disc. Anyway despite these last comments by the group in the recording booth, it was a totally amazing and informative audio commentary and I definitely award it with a five star rating and is well worth listening to.
Special Feature: Interviews With the Cast and Crew [2017] [1080p] [1.78:1] [11:05] With this special feature we get a good collection of in-depth different interviews from most of the film's key performers. They talk about, especially the meaning of the film ‘THE DEATH OF STALIN’ and the chaos that happens with the death of Joseph Stalin, who was of course the leader of Russia at the time before he died, and all the people in the Council of Ministers were all plotting against each other to take power, but of course Nikita Khrushchev was ahead of the game and making sure he becomes the head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of Russia and does so in an astute way, even though on the way, you have the other Council of Ministers trying to wield power at the same time, but of course while this happened it was a very confusing time and no one is in proper charge and a total mess, but in the total chaos, Nikita Khrushchev manoeuvres his way into power. But of course the director Armando Iannucci and his previous projects on television, was keen for the main actors to appear in his film. They talk about the character of Joseph Stalin, who was a really nasty person, who would eliminate anyone who he thought were plotting against him, and that is why when you see Joseph Stalin [Adrian McLoughlin] have a stroke and eventually dies, total confusion reigns supreme and they all run round like headless chickens, not knowing what to do, because Joseph Stalin was so powerful, he controlled all facet of life in Russia, and of course the Council of Ministers. Although the director Armando Iannucci sort of had overall control, the actors were allowed to improvise, but Simon Russell Beale was not into that style of acting and tried to fit in, but found the experience quite extraordinary. But was also extraordinary is what you witness in the film, because it was all true and of course makes for an even more hilarious film, and of course all the actors had an amazing time. They talk about that in any kind of uprising, if you have not got the army behind you, then the whole exercise collapses, as you see in the film. Once again they all praise Armando Iannucci and how directed the film and all the actors and they felt a great honour to be part of the film and at the same time they had a really hilarious time together with everyone. Of course the main thrust of these interviews is the great praise once a gain of director Armando Iannucci, because you only have to view some of this previous work, especially the Television programmes he has directed, who all the actors love his work and think he is amazing, and especially think he is very talented, and of course that is why all the actors were keen to come on board to appear in the film. They talk about the real life characters in the Central Committee and one of them was Vyacheslav Molotov [Michael Palin] who was a great schemer who was one that survived the purge, especially when Joseph Stalin died, and on top of all that, Vyacheslav Molotov was in real life a very evil person and Winston Churchill him as having a brilliant mind, but totally ruthless, and was the one that wanted to keep the flames of the past alive, and trying to keep the ideology of Joseph Stalin alive, and at the same time Vyacheslav Molotov is making sure he is stabbing everyone in the back so he does not get assassinated. What all the actors like about appearing in the film is that everyone was different, but all worked in harmony, also the film was a very historic document of something outside Russia knew was going on at the time of the death of Joseph Stalin and of course Armando Iannucci wanted to make it happen and to make the film. What was also very enjoyable for the actors in making the film was the fact that the event was an accurate historical document and the actors were acting out the real life scenario, where the actors were acting out what really happened behind the scene of the inner circle of the Central Committee and in real life they all had blood on their hands, but they still had to stick together whatever happened, especially when Joseph Stalin collapses with a serious stroke and of course soon dies, and where outside Russia at the time seemed as if life was running as normal and secure, but instead in real life, everyone in the Council of Ministers were running around like headless chickens, because their lives have now been turned into turmoil, suddenly they feel their Empire is falling apart and again they are all trying to stab each other in the back and all trying to take control of the situation. Again, what all the actors liked is the fact that director Armando Iannucci allowed the actors to speak in their own voice and not put on any kind of comedic Russian accent and again that is what director Armando Iannucci wanted the actors to feel comfortable and relaxed in their performance. We also find out from Armando Iannucci that he set out to make a tragic comedy, but at the same time have comedy running throughout the film, but making sure it is interspersed with tragedy and have two elements happening at the same time in a certain scene in the film and that you get a strange mixture of witnessing tense and anxiety, which strangely is very funny and totally hysterically funny, and also at the same time very brutish and thuggish and you warm to some of what you view, but at other times you feel very uncomfortable, especially the millions of Russians who were brutally murdered without any feeling or remorse, especially throughout the 1930s, 1940s and the 1950s. What was also amazing is that Armando Iannucci went to Russia to take photos of all the locations and especially Joseph Stalin’s Kuntsevo Dacha, his personal residence near the former town of Kuntsevo. But as to the filmmaking, the main bulk of the film was shot in different locations in London and also just outside London and found locations that looked Russian. Although the outline of the film was thought out three years earlier before filming started, but of course they did not anticipate or happen with the rise of Donald Trump and being elected as the President of the United States of America and of course the film sort of reflects his attitude to power and domination like what happened in Russia, and that is why Armando Iannucci wanted to do a film about a dictator and total authorisation and how a country like Russia can be terrorised by just one man, and where a Government controls totally the information for the Russian people and not letting them know the truth and what is again not the truth, and totally warped information, and again what we witness makes for a very funny set up, but at the same time makes the whole Russian scenario totally bleak, and especially in real life you had a group of people who had total power over the Russian people, and on top of all that, the group in the Central Committee were all really nasty people, but at the same time they were very engaging about witnessing these nasty murderous people. What was also very interesting is that Armando Iannucci did not want the actors to look like the real people in the Central Committee in Russia at the time of the death of Joseph Stalin, and again Armando Iannucci want to show what it was like inside the Central Committee and the nasty men trying to grab power and back stabbing everyone as things progressed, and as time passed we finally get to see who wins the power to rule Russia which of course was Nikita Khrushchev from 1953 to 1964, until the next nasty despot leader deposes Nikita Khrushchev who was Leonid Brezhnev who was the actor Gerald Lepkowski sitting behind him at the end of the film at the concert. So all in all, this was really fascinating and interesting at the same time and well worth viewing and definitely get a five star rating from me. Contributors include: Steve Buscemi [Nikita Khrushchev], Simon Russell Beale [Lavrentiy Beria], Jason Isaacs [Georgy Zhukov], Olga Kurylenko [Maria Yudina], Michael Palin [Vyacheslav Molotov], Andrea Riseborough [Svetlana Stalina], Paul Chahidi [Nikolai Bulganin], Dermot Crowley [Lazar Kaganovich], Paul Whitehouse [Anastas Mikoyan], Armando Iannucci [Director/ Screenplay], David Schneider [Screenplay], Chris Willis [Composer], Suzie Harman [Costume Designer] and Cristina Casali [Production Design].
Special Feature: Deleted Scenes [2017] [1080p] [1.85:1] [10:23] With this special feature we get a collection of deleted scenes and including a lot of one-liners that didn't make it into the finished film, well worth a look and fascinating why director Armando Iannucci these deleted scenes were not worthy to be featured in the film.
Trailer Previews: Here we get to view three theatrical trailers and they are as follows: ‘ENTEBBE’ [2017] [1080p] [2.35:1] [1:54]; ‘Suburbion’ [2017] [1080p] [2.35:1] [2:25] and ‘Molly’s Game’ [2017] [1080p] [2.40:1] [2:12].
Finally, with the film ‘THE DEATH OF STALIN’ it really shows off the very talented and brilliant director Armando Iannucci so well and hitting the nail on the head with this very sarcastic film, and again Armando Iannucci has frequently been admired for the uncanny prescience of his satire, and indeed his depictions of the mendacity and incompetence at the heart of contemporary politics often seem to be several steps ahead of the game. Armando Iannucci latest comic masterpiece ‘THE DEATH OF STALIN,’ however, demonstrates that the farcical contortions of morality and logic by which greedy men seek power form a pattern as old as politics itself. Here, the post-war Soviet Union becomes a laboratory where the chemical elements of ambition, stupidity and ruthlessness are combined to make a particularly dangerous and volatile compound. It’s absolutely hilarious… but also at the same time, we get to see people unfortunately die. Much of the visual style is the blood-and-snow palette, the sense of the squirming personal caught within the rigid apparatus of state and is clearly inspired by the work of Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin, but the very witty smart dialogue and deftly syncopated timing are pure Armando Iannucci and pure gold. The film is uproariously funny but painfully close to the bone in a world where once again the lunatics have taken over the asylum. But a word of warning, this film is not for young children, as there is a lot of strong swearing. Despite this, it is a totally brilliant and very funny black comedy film. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
