Best movie of this year hands down!

What makes it different from others?

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

This film was masterfully orchestrated with its use of allusion and cinematically pleasing to the viewer. The story begins with a woman baking a cake while a man who sits and eats the cake brings up, rather tearfully, the recent death of an important local mayor. Varlam Aravidze the source of focus in the film is a recently deceased dictator-like mayor that through his govern established the use of many Stalinistic ideals and utilized countless Machiavellian techniques to subdue the people of the town. The film then goes through a surreal like dream sequence in which the woman, a former victim of this cruel regime, baking the cakes thinks of these injustices and creates a world in which proper punishment, the exhumation of his corpse, is administered for the crimes he committed. Through this dream sequence the director skillfully oscillates between the past and the apparent dream present back to the real present. During which many allusions are made to the actual Stalin regime and the damages inflicted on the people of the time. Despite the time period being set during the stagnation era the after effects of the administration are still profound in this films portrayal of what ends up being a tragedy caused by the after effects of the administration. The quote "the time we live in has Varlam arrested" might have been a literal reference to this time period of stagnation in which Varlam's older Stalinistic practices were no longer widely condoned but as can be later be seen through of the film, cannot be simply ignored. The movie was definitely much more entertainment based than others that might have come before it that might have only served ideological purposes. The movie was very insightful in Soviet customs which can be seen through the funeral scene that might seem odd but familiar in the ritual aspect to foreigners. The time skips and changes in dream planes added a level of ironic enough realism that made the social commentary on the consequences of ignoring the past even more palpable to a viewer. Overall the film was great and worth watching the full 150 minutes of it.

This film was absolute genius and, in my opinion, one of the best films produced in the 20th century. It is on par with films like the Seventh Seal and Schindler's List in terms of symbolism and philosophy. The only way one can not like this film is if one does not understand it- which is quite possible, if one is only haphazardly watching it and is not fully engaged, or is expecting the film to chew up the messages for you and give you something simple you can quickly take away without actually appreciating the movie- then this is the wrong film for you. In order to properly appreciate this film you have to engage in higher philosophical thought and reflect both on the lives of individuals of the Stalinist era as well as your own era, since this movie is timeless. It explores human nature at its basest level, and what causes humans to act in the ways they do.

At first sight it is movie of one actor. Axis of grotesque world, master of hideous mask, puppeteer of essence of every dictator, Avtandil Makharidze is great in this parable-satire about power and pure cruelty. At first sight it is movie of its director, result of need to confess events of dark years, to cry - king is naked ! - after a deep and large silence. At first sight it is a gray fairy -tale in which monster is killed by delivery of truth. A woman for who past is blood of present. A cake, an artist, ruins of existences, look of nephew, a trial. At first sight it is tale about Varlaam. In fact it is only a masterpiece.

(Possible spoiler): A story about dictatorship and its socially corrosive influence, this heavily-symbolic film has as its main character a Georgian SSR Governor who is the embodiment of Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini in one man. As the film progresses, it becomes apparent that he is losing any grip on reality which he may have possessed (note, for example, his statement that four out of every three people are traitors to the revolution, or somesuch.)The movie, brought to the West by SovExportFilm and Cannon Films, is sheer brilliance. It captures the cold, gray, bureaucratic facade of tyranny.