some fun with a murderous satire

Rating: 7/10 (25 March 2018)

Joseph Stalin rules the Soviet Union with an iron fist. He produces a constant stream of enemy lists which his soldiers round up nightly. He is surrounded by yes men. After a laughable threat from pianist Maria Yudina, he has a stroke. Soon, he's dead and various leaders struggle for dominance. The most ambitious are Nikita Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi) and NKVD head Lavrentiy Beria. Molotov is the fumbling Foreign Minister. Field Marshal Zhukov is the bombastic war hero. Svetlana and unstable Vasily are Stalin's children. Beria uses his secret police, stealing Khrushchev's liberal reforms, and blackmail with Khrushchev's mistress Yudina's threatening note.
This political satire has a few funny moments. It's oddly light in a dark world. That's the central problem which holds it back. The historical events are dire. The dictatorial police state is apocalyptic. This movie tries to have some light fun with it. The clash between comedy and reality is never far from the surface. The other issue I have is that Buscemi always looks like Buscemi. He never strikes me as Khrushchev. I see the historical Khruschev as a big, boisterous gangster. Buscemi always looks little. I can't see him as Khrushchev. This has plenty of quirky fun but those couple of things keep pulling me out of the movie.