Why Don't You Just Die? (2019)

"Black Comedy Spaghetti Western Set in Someone's Front Room"

That about sums this one up, actually. Oh, plus Shakespeare, whose work is both referenced in the film and emulated by a climax that involves...well, I'll let you find that out for yourselves. Suffice to say the trailer that went out with this one suggesting it's a Three Stooges knockabout comedy doesn't do this very funny, very creative and immensely resourceful film justice. 

A big favourite on last year's UK festival circuit, where it seemed to be scheduled as frequently as Ant Timpson's COME TO DADDY, Kirill Sokolov's WHY DON'T YOU JUST DIE is getting a Blu-ray release from Arrow. If you didn't get a chance to see it on the big screen then now's your chance to catch up.

Matvei (Aleksandr Kuznetsov) visits Andrei (Vitaliy Khaev), the father of his girlfriend with the intention of killing the man after she has begged him to. However, Andrei is a high-ranking officer in the police and a bit of a bruiser to boot, and he isn't going to go down easily. A shotgun blast to the sofa reveals a stash of hidden cash and slowly, piece by piece, we get to learn how it ended up there.

If Sergio Leone had directed something in the 1980s written by and starring Ade Edmondson & Rik Mayall then the result might well have been something like WHY DON'T YOU JUST DIE. Apparently it was Kirill Sokolov's intention to make a spaghetti western that takes place almost entirely in someone's front room, and it's hard to think of how such a concept could be done any better. Witty use of music and cutaways both add immensely to the hilarious and beautifully choreographed mayhem, making this an impressive feature debut.

Arrow's Blu-ray also includes a piece by Kim Newman about 'single location cinema', as well as four short films by Kirill Sokolov: Could Be Worse, The Outcome, The Flame and Sisyphus Is Happy. You also get his storyboards for the film as BD-ROM content. The first pressing also comes with new writing on the film by Neil Mitchell. 

Kirill Sokolov's WHY DON'T YOU JUST DIE is out on 

Blu-ray from Arrow Films on Monday 20th April 2020