Why Don’t You Just Die! Opens In Limited Release This April
The popular American perception of life in Russia is that it’s a bitterly cold hellscape of cruelty and corruption where everybody is out to kill you. But it’s easy for the fearful mind to run wild with negative stereotypes of places we’ve never been, and we’re sure the new Russian import from Arrow Video will dispel all notions of…..well, actually, never mind.
In the dark comedy Why Don’t You Just Die!, young Matvey loves his girlfriend, but the first time meeting her parents didn’t go too well. In fact, her father Andrey completely despises him and would never approve of marriage. Matvey decides Andrey is an obstacle that must be eliminated, and prepares to enter his apartment with a hammer to bludgeon him to death. Andrey is equally hungry to murder Matvey! And so they spend most of the film’s runtime taking swings at each other.
“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.”
Why Don’t You Just Die! stars Aleksandr Kuznetsov as Matvey and Vitaliy Khaev as Andrey. It opens in select theaters nationwide on April 10, and screenings are scheduled for Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Knoxville, Ithaca, Houston, Lubbock, El Paso and Phoenix. Further details will be released later.