The Death of Stalin
Directed by Armando Iannucci
Starring Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Jeffrey Tambor, Michael Palin, Jason Isaacs…
1 hour, 46 minutes
Rated R, 2017
The actual funeral of Stalin. Captured by Major Martin Manhoff from the US embassy balcony. 9 March 1953. Public domain.
Perhaps it is inevitable that great expectations are betrayed.
As in revolution, so in film.
I have been waiting for Iannucci’s farce The Death of Stalin since I first came across the trailer in the summer of 2017. It seemed like a film tailor-made for me: a comedy about the ills of the Soviet system and the pitfalls of power.
The marketing team for this film is absolutely brilliant and never breaks character. They actually contacted me on Facebook!
(more…)
