Film Liquet on The Death of Stalin

Rating: 8/10 (7 November 2018)

With the sudden death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, the communist party of USSR struggles, as they try to choose a new leader. The film is a more satirical version of what happened in the few days following the said tragic event.
Having seen the film, it seems more to me like an over the top historical drama, which has been well made and adapted for the big screen. It educates the audience on the events of the power struggle in Russia, showing some of the might and tyranny of Stalin, highlighting awful events that occurred at the time, whilst also taking the mick out of the situation, but showing how ridiculous the well-known comedians portray that event. Although some consider it to be more of a dark comedy, we found it quite amusing, as the character development of Steve Buscemi as the next ruler of the communist party is shown to be a ridiculous event, whilst the killings of innocent people continue.
Regarding my professional opinion, the film was quite well shot and managed to portray the colder colours of the USSR using different light and shadow techniques, as well as colour grading. What I found very amusing was the fact that the set designers left the lights in the scene deliberately, in order to light the shots and serve as old projectors in the late 50s. Overall, the editing pace might have been slow in some places or others, however the film worked and kept my attention throughout.