Schastye

I bet if I lived in Soviet Russia in the 1930's, I'd have loved this too. But I'm not sure I'd take that as a fair trade for being able to relate to this film.

# 874

Yikes, this was supposed to be a comedy?

812

A funny slapstick comedy that can easily put a smile on your face. Drags a little bit at the end but still a fantastic watch.

Communist comedy? Socialist slapstick? Yes, it's a Soviet propaganda film with a Buster Keaton comic sensibility. The movie is often greatly exagerrated, part expressionist and part absurdist. It also has a dark edge to it, with not one but two gags about suicide. And it's even funny. It does get a little confusing at times, but apparently some scenes are missing. Bizarre and unexpected.

a soviet slapstick satire....yikes. about as funny as a spear to the gut...which is to say the filmmakers thought a spear to the gut was very funny. couldn't finish.

832

Today I named one of my newborn cats for the first time after the movie. It's Vadim.

Imagine a silent film that crosses German expressionism with American slapstick scripted to the Soviet sense of humor. Yeah, you get some weird shit! Schastye is a truly unique experience and one don't really know whether to laugh or cry for the poor guy. It's an absurd black comedy with everyone being moochers resulting in the farmer going down in ruin, but he's not allowed to kill himself because then he can't feed the people so he's forced to go on. This sure was heart-stirring!

#879