Operatsiya Y i drugiye priklyucheniya Shurika

For a largely forgotten Soviet series, these shorts beautifully carry on the work of Buster Keaton and other silent film legends. Demyanenko has the most endearing approach to playing the straight man, to the point that even when the shorts get predictable, they remain fun and engaging.

I'm not generally a big fan of Slapstick, especially in feature films, but I found this to be very funny. There's never a dull moment and the humour is pretty varied.

The second section is clever, skilled slapstick and worth watching the movie for. This was the most commercially successful film in the Soviet Union when it was first released.