The Death of Stalin

Based on the graphic novel La Mort de Staline by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin, The Death of Stalin is a fictionalized story about the death of Joseph Stalin where several of his associates try to figure out what to do with some fighting each other to be the next leader of the Soviet Union. Directed by Armando Iannucci and screenplay by Iannucci, David Schneider, and Ian Martin, the film is a satirical political comedy that explores a power struggle within the Soviet Union as it gets out of control with those wanting to make some changes with others wanting to maintain Stalin’s legacy. Starring Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Paddy Considine, Rupert Friend, Jason Isaacs, Olga Kurylenko, Michael Palin, Andrea Riseborough, Adrian McLaughlin, Paul Whitehouse, Dermot Crowley, Paul Chahidi, and Jeffrey Tambor. The Death of Stalin is a wild and farcical film from Armando Iannucci.

It’s 1953 in the Soviet Union as Joseph Stalin is content with his rule until he suffers a cerebral hemorrhage and later dies leaving government officials unsure of what to do next and who should take over as the leader of the Soviet Union. That is the film’s plot as a whole where it is about the death of a leader of a superpower and everyone trying to figure out if they should tell the country that their leader had died as well as who should replace him officially. The film’s screenplay by Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, and Ian Martin with contributions by Peter Fellows explore a real-life event as it is dramatized into a farce that relates to power struggles, conspiracies, and all sorts of shit that happens following the death of a world leader. The story opens with Joseph Stalin (Adrian McLaughlin) listening to a live orchestra as he wants a recording of it where its lead radio broadcaster Yuri Andreyev asks the orchestra to play the entire concerto all over again for Stalin which prompts pianist Maria Yudina (Olga Kurylenko) to slip a note into the recording sleeve that Stalin would find while he listens to the recording.

It is when Stalin would suffer his hemorrhage as Interior Ministry head Lavrentiy Beria (Simon Russell Beale) would be the second person to find Stalin in that state after the maid was the first to report what had happened. Moscow Party head Nikita Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi) and Deputy General Secretary Georgy Malenkov (Jeffrey Tambor) would get the word as they all try to cover things but also contact Stalin’s daughter Svetlana (Andrea Riseborough) and his troubled son Vasily (Rupert Friend) as it leads to more chaos. The film’s script play into these meetings between various officials including the Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotiv (Michael Palin) to discuss funeral plans while there’s some backstabbing, scheming, and all sorts of shit about who should be the leader with Beria making Malenkov the new leader of the Soviet Union despite his inexperience in political matters. Many would also question whether Stalin would go for anything that is happening with Khrushchev trying to fix everything as he knows that Beria is causing trouble as he also appeals to a few to get rid of Beria who is threatening everyone with blackmail as a way to maintain his position of power.

Iannucci’s direction is definitely engaging in terms of its usage of hand-held cameras as well as maintain this air of disorder throughout the course of the film. Shot mainly in Britain with some exterior shots set in Kiev, Ukraine as the exterior of 1950s Moscow, Iannucci play into some of the absurdity that goes during the final days of Stalinism where he would shoots scenes of people getting killed though it’s shown mainly off screen while there are these moments of a list of who to kill and such as it is presented in this amazing dolly-tracking shot at a prison. While there’s some wide shots of the location including some striking wide compositions of a few conversations that goes inside the Kremlin and at other places. Much of Iannucci’s direction is intimate with its usage of hand-held cameras to capture some of the conversations whether it’s in a close-up or in a medium shot.

Iannucci also uses a lot of profane language for the film as it play into the frustration and chaos that ensues following Stalin’s death as well as the planning of the funeral that Khrushchev is tasked with. The scene of people walking to see Stalin’s casket for a state funeral where Khrushchev, Beria, Molotiv, Malenkov, and several others are bickering quietly while not facing each other as their backs are surrounding the casket. The film’s third act that would involve the actions of Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov (Jason Isaacs) who adds to chaos while Malenkov believes he has authority where he is in denial over his new role. Iannucci’s approach to the climax relates to this end of an era but also the beginning of something new though the ideas of the old would come to haunt this new era that would play into the demise of the Soviet Union. Overall, Iannucci creates a whimsical yet exhilarating film about a power struggle among government officials following the death of Joseph Stalin.

Cinematographer Zac Nicholson does amazing work with the film’s cinematography with its low-key approach to some of the exterior scenes at night including the streets of Moscow during a funeral march as well as some dazzling lights for some of the scenes at the halls of the Kremlin. Editor Peter Lambert does excellent work with the editing with its usage of jump-cuts to play into some of the humor as well as the film’s chaotic tone. Production designer Cristina Casali, with set decorator Charlotte Dirickx plus art directors Jane Brodie and David Hindle, does incredible work with the interior of Stalin’s home and his office as well as the rooms and halls inside the Kremlin and in the prisons. Costume designer Suzie Harman does fantastic work with the uniforms including the ridiculous white one that Malenkov would wear during the funeral as well the numerous medals that Zhukov wears.

Hair/makeup designer Nicole Stafford does superb work with the look of Stalin as well as the scar in Zhukov’s face. Special effects supervisor Neal Champion, along with visual effects supervisors Laurent Gillet and Ronald Grauer, does terrific work with some of the film’s minimal visual effects including some set dressing for the exteriors to present 1950s Moscow. Sound mixer Martin Beresford does wonderful work with the sound as it is largely straightforward as it also play into the chaos in some of the arguments that is heard in another room as well as the sounds of gunshots from afar. The film’s music by Chris Willis is brilliant for its orchestral score that feature bombastic string arrangements that is similar to the traditional Soviet music of the times while its soundtrack feature an array of classical music pieces.

The casting by Sarah Crowe is great as it feature some notable small roles from Justin Edwards and Nicholas Woodeson as a couple of orchestral conductors for the concerto that Stalin wanted a recording of, Sylvestra Le Touzel as Khrushchev’s wife Nina, Diana Quick as Molotov’s incarcerated wife Polina who is freed after Stalin’s death, Gerald Lepkowski as a young Leonid Brezhnev, and Adrian McLaughlin as Joseph Stalin as this leader who rules with an iron fist until he suddenly falls ill and then dies. The trio of Dermot Crowley, Paul Chahidi, and Paul Whitehouse in their respective roles as deputy chairman Lazar Kaganovich, council chairman Nikolai Bulganin, and political official Anastas Mikoyan as three men who are trying to figure out who to side with as well as ponder what to do next for the Soviet Union.

Rupert Friend is hilarious as Vasily Stalin as Stalin’s alcoholic and unstable son who believes his father’s death was a conspiracy created by Westerners while Andrea Riseborough is fantastic as Stalin’s daughter Svetlana who is trying to make sense of what happened but is also angry over the chaos that is happening where Riseborough gets a few moments to be funny. Paddy Considine is superb as the Soviet radio broadcaster Yuri Andreyev who is trying to get a recording of a concerto to happen while Olga Kurylenko is terrific as pianist Maria Yudina who hates Stalin as she reluctantly re-plays the concerto and later his funeral. Jason Isaacs is excellent as Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov as this no-nonsense military official who is upset over his army being confined to the barracks as he also has some simmering issues with Beria. Jeffrey Tambor is brilliant as Deputy General Secretary Georgy Malenkov who becomes Beria’s puppet as he believes he is going to become the next leader despite his inexperience and denial over the fact that he has no clue on how to run a country.

Michael Palin is amazing as Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov as a political official who was close to Stalin as he deals with the aftermath as well as do some political maneuvering knowing that Beria is a liability to the future of the Soviet Union. Simon Russell Beale is incredible as Interior Ministry head Lavrentiy Beria as this political official trying to maneuver, backstab, and bullshit his way into power while trying to maintain some idea of what he feel could be beneficial to the Soviet Union. Finally, there’s Steve Buscemi in a phenomenal performance as Nikita Khrushchev who was then the Moscow party head as he is trying to figure out what to do next as he is tasked to plan Stalin’s funeral while realizing that he has to take the reins in leading the Soviet Union as it’s a comical and engaging performance from Buscemi.

The Death of Stalin is a spectacular film from Armando Iannucci. Featuring a great ensemble cast, witty commentary on political scheming, gorgeous visuals, and a sumptuous music score and satirical views on history. The film is definitely a wild comedy that isn’t afraid to be profane nor is it trying to follow a historical event in total accuracy in favor of studying a group of individuals fighting for power. In the end, The Death of Stalin is a sensational film from Armando Iannucci.

Related: In the Loop

© thevoid99 2019

In the Loop

Based on the British TV show The Thick of It, In the Loop is the story of a British government official who makes an offhand comment on TV as things go out of control as both American and British government officials try to sort things out as they’re on the verge of a war with the Middle East. Directed by Armando Iannucci and written by Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, and Tony Roche with additional material from Ian Martin. The film is a black-comedy satire that explores the backstage world of politics as people try to prevent or start a war. Starring Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Gina McKee, Mimi Kennedy, Anna Chlumsky, Chris Addison, Steve Coogan, David Rasche, and James Gandolfini. In the Loop is a whimsical yet very witty political comedy from Armando Iannucci.

After an interview with International Development minister Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) for the BBC goes bad due to comments made by Foster. Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), the director of communications for the prime minister, goes on damage control over Foster’s comments as he confronts Foster and communications director Judy Molloy (Gina McKee) over what happened. With Foster’s comments getting into more trouble about a possible war happening, it only worsens when U.S. officials led by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomacy officer Karen Clark (Mimi Kennedy) visits where Foster attends the meeting and becomes mocked.

Tucker sends Foster and his new assistant Toby (Chris Addison) to Washington D.C. to meet up with Clark and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Policy official Linton Barwick (David Rasche) for a meeting with war council that’s to include Lt. General Miller (James Gandolfini). Foster and Toby deal with Clark and her assistant Liza Weld (Anna Chlumsky) as Clark wants Liza to get some information from Toby whom they had known each other since college. After a meeting with the war council where Foster ends up looking more like a fool and information is leaked to the press. With Foster and Toby working for a local constituent building where they deal with a local (Steve Coogan), Toby gets himself into trouble while Foster’s shenanigans has his being mocked by the press.

With Tucker sending Foster and Toby back to the U.S. where they’re to travel to New York City for a United Nations meeting, Tucker and Molloy join them while Tucker sends Senior Press Officer Jamie MacDonald to find out who sent out the leak. The brash MacDonald confronts Diplomacy Director of Foreign Office official Michael Rodgers (James Smith) and Rodgers’ secretary Suzy (Olivia Poulet) about the leak while Foster makes a decision about his political career. In the U.N., more complications arose as Foster becomes aware of what he’s been doing while Tucker would make moves that would help save face for the British government.

The film is a satire on political strategy that involves the mistake of an official’s comment leading to problems between U.S. and British relations as they all try to smooth things out. In a game of manipulative politics, a communications director gets this official in the U.S. along with an assistant where they end up being played in a game of strategy where the U.S. try to be on top of things. The screenplay delves into this world where everyone in the game of politics try to outdo who while using people in the process for their own gain. Throughout the film, there’s characters who clearly find out they’re being used while some are willing to be involved.

The script is also very multi-layered for the fact that there’s a lot of characters with overlapping dialogue along with back-and-forth narratives that revolve around both British and U.S. political strategies as each faction figure out what to do. With a lot of the dialogue being fast, stylized, and often crass due to the more aggressive characters in the film. It adds to who these people are as they’re doing damage control where they become very confrontational and vulgar as they’re all trying to protect their territory. Caught in the middle of this damage control is this official who finds himself becoming a pawn as he would become more confused by the world of politics.

Armando Iannucci’s direction is truly engaging to watch in the way he goes for this very offbeat, cinema verite style that has a lot of intimate moments on the conversations where the camera is always there to see what is going on. Even if it involves someone in the background watching where Iannucci knows that a character in the background is either a target or is about to do something that will shake things up. While the film is essentially a satire, Iannucci doesn’t stray into silly gags or parodies but rather go for small moments of silliness while letting the actors just go all out in the characters they play no matter how despicable or idiotic they are. Overall, Iannucci creates a truly superb and very funny film about political damage control.

Cinematographer Jamie Cairney does an excellent job with the film‘s cinematography providing differing looks to the British and American locations with the British interior and exteriors being a bit more grimy while the American set pieces having more lights to complement their personalities. Editors Ant Boys and Billy Sneddon do nice work with the editing by capturing a lot of the intensity of the conversations that goes on with some rhythmic cutting as well as straightforward cuts to play up the more intimate moments of the film. Production designer Cristina Casali, along with set decorator Clare Keyte and art director Nick Dent, does fantastic work with the set pieces such as the offices of the British officials to the more spacious offices and conferences rooms of the American officials to contrast the two differing world of politics.

Costume designer Ros Little does a terrific job with the costumes in maintaining a look for all of the characters wearing suits and all sorts of business attire while Lt. General Miller maintains a uniform to emphasize his intimidating persona. Sound supervisor Tim Alban does a fine job with the sound to capture the intimacy of some of the private conversations to the more raucous world of the board meetings and such that occur in the film. The film’s score by Adem Illhan with the Elysian Quartet is pretty good as it’s very low-key with plaintive piano pieces to more thrilling orchestral arrangements to play up the humor and more tense dramatic moments of the film.

The casting by Sarah Crowe and Meredith Tucker is brilliant for the ensemble that is created for this film. In small but notable roles, Zach Woods as brown-nosing junior staffer, Paul Higgins as the very angry Scottish official Jamie MacDonald, Olivia Poulet as Toby’s girlfriend/civil servant Suzy, James Smith as a classical-music loving diplomacy director, Alex MacQueen as the British representative for the U.N., and Steve Coogan as angry local upset over a wall that’s to collapse on his mother’s garden. Anna Chlumsky is very good as the ambitious assistant Liza whose paper about war gets her a lot of attention while David Rasche is excellent as the smarmy U.S. official Linton Barwick. Gina McKee is wonderful as a communications director who helps try to smooth things out while Mimi Kennedy is terrific as a diplomacy official who tries to use Foster for her own gain.

Chris Addison is a delight to watch as the naïve assistant who goes way over his head in trying to help out Foster only to end up being a key player to further complicate matters. James Gandolfini is great as Lt. General Miller as a man unsure of his role while not wanting to go to war as he also tries to use Foster for his own political reasons. Tom Hollander is amazing as political official Simon Foster who unknowingly creates an incident where he becomes a pawn in a political game furthering his confusion about his role in politics. Finally, there’s Peter Capaldi in a magnificent performance as the ambitious yet terrifying Malcolm Tucker who bullies his way to do damage control while always being very intimidating to officials whether its British or American.

In the Loop is an extraordinary yet humorous film from Armando Iannucci. Featuring a fantastic ensemble cast led by Peter Capaldi, it’s a film that explores the world of foreign relations with biting satire and brash humor. While it’s not an easy film to follow through in terms of its subject matter and unconventional approach to comedy. It is the kind of film that is willing to explore the fallacy of politics and do it in a very witty manner. In the end, In the Loop is a masterfully-crafted comedy from Armando Iannucci.

Related: The Death of Stalin

© thevoid99 2012