Arrow Video is switching it up with an early nationwide Digital HD release beginning April 20 for Kiril Sokolov’s winning action comedy, Why Don’t You Just Die! on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video and Google Play. The move comes after an April 10 release was planned by the company in multiple markets around the U.S., now scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has swept much of America.
The film hails from debut director Kiril Sokolov and is billed as “a blood-soaked black comedy in the vein of Quentin Tarantino and Edgar Wright”. The film stars Aleksandr Kuznetsov and Vitaliy Khaev, and tells of a man who descends unto his girlfriends apartment, intent on killing her father in an act of vengeance, only to trigger a deadly stalemate that uncovers greed, corruption and betrayal.
I gave my thoughts on the film, and it’s a fine watch in my book. If my word isn’t enough, the take it from its list of accolades: New Flesh Award for Best First Feature and Silver Audience Award at Fantasia, Best European Feature Film at MOTELx, Best Director at Fantaspoa, Best Feature, Best Director and Best VFX Awards at Grimmfest. Even Film School Rejects weighed in last year declaring “Russian cinema has a new filmmaker to champion”.
“Despite our exaggerated use of genre tropes and all the flashy effects, Why Don’t You Just Die! remains, for me, an incredibly personal and sincere story.” says Sokolov. “The film’s inherent violence is the result of reflection on the realities of life in Russia, modern relationships, and societal attitudes. The gallows humor which pervades the film is the only true reaction whatsoever to all of this. The film is intended as an emotional rollercoaster, making the audience laugh, cry, and laugh again – but then immediately feel a sense of unease for having laughed.”
Matvey (Aleksandr Kuznetsov) has just one objective: to gain entry to his girlfriend’s parents’ apartment and kill her father Andrey (Vitaliy Khaev) with a hammer to restore her honour. But all is not as it initially seems, and Matvey’s attempts to bludgeon the family patriarch to death don’t quite go to plan as Andrey proves a more formidable – not to mention ruthless – opponent than he anticipated… and Matvey, for his part, proves stubbornly unwilling to die.
