Blistering satire from Veep creator Armando Iannucci chronicling the aftermath of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's death in 1953. Stars Steve Buscemi, Jeffrey Tambor and Olga Kurylenko.
When tyrannical dictator Joseph Stalin drops dead, his parasitic cronies square off in a frantic power struggle to be the next Soviet leader. Among the contenders are the dweeby Georgy Malenkov (Tambor), the wily Nikita Khrushchev (Buscemi), and the sadistic secret police chief Lavrentiy Beria (Simon Russell Beale, Into the Woods). But as they bumble, brawl, and backstab their way to the top, just who is running the government?
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95%251 reviews
The inclusion of Michael Palin in Armando Iannucci's film brings to mind the terrifying character the Monty Python legend played in Brazil, Terry Gilliam’s wonderful 1980s satire of Orwellian angst and banality of evil fuckery.
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If only the end result were as funny as the idea that anyone would undertake a film about the turmoil surrounding the Soviet despot's demise.
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A frighteningly funny satire that finds humour in historical horror. Watch and feel better about the world.
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A riotous farce of doublespeak and plotting laced with moments of bitumen-black horror.
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The Death Of Stalin is superbly cast, and acted with icy and ruthless force by an A-list lineup. There are no weak links. Each has a plum role; each squeezes every gorgeous horrible drop.
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Master satirist Armando Iannucci's new film is ostensibly a comedy, but the laughs don't come easy and the jokes are often laced with malice and paranoia.
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There's a nagging sense of something sour in your popcorn, a whiff of guilt at every chuckle.
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It's not as gut-bustingly laugh-out-loud funny as you'd expect, but the underplaying covers the whole thing in a leering menace that's hard to shake.
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It will more than satisfy Iannucci's fans at arthouses; here's hoping we don't have to wait another eight years to see the director's next film.
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Some genuinely hilarious set ups and a nice mixture of farce and other styles of comedy.
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Iannucci's brand of political satire is applied to one of the darkest chapters in modern history, with sensational results.
Full reviewThe Death of Stalin is available to stream in New Zealand now on Apple TV and Academy On Demand and AroVision.
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