“The First Issue”
Once one of the country’s most popular writers, now a hard-drinking failure, Konstantin Inozemtsev (Yevgeny Tsyganov) has long since fallen out of favor and is of no use to anyone. Facing a creative crisis, with mounting debts and a ruined personal life, he seems hopeless. But a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presents itself: to become the editor-in-chief of a magazine relaunched after the previous publishers left the market. For Inozemtsev, this is a chance to regain his faith in himself, take on some responsibility, and do something truly great. Based on a script by writer and media manager Sergei Minaev, the series is an honest and self-deprecating portrait of the Russian glossy magazine scene. Moreover, it is also a successful caustic comedy, in which the emotionless Tsyganov makes sarcastic jokes.
“Fleabag”
Even if you are a little over 30, there is still hope – maybe not for a prince, but at least for an interesting life. A London resident, calling herself Fleabag, sleeps with anyone, irritates her loved ones and regularly ruins her own relationships. But the more we laugh at her awkward adventures and sarcastic comments to the viewer, the more we sympathize with her. She is lonely and cannot forgive herself for one terrible thing. Based on the one-woman show of the same name, the series by English comedian Phoebe Waller-Bridge became a new word on TV: firstly, because of the presentation inspired by YouTube aesthetics; secondly, thanks to the unusually successful combination of black humor and genuine drama. It will make you laugh and cry.
“To Rome with Love”
Woody Allen has fewer pure comedies than it seems, despite the fact that he is one of the main comedy writers of the 20th and 21st centuries, masterfully combining intellectual humor with down-to-earth passions. One of the lightest and underrated examples is “To Rome with Love” (2012). This is a kaleidoscope of gracefully intertwined stories set in the Eternal City: a clerk suddenly becomes a celebrity, a shy groom loses his virginity to a prostitute, an American tourist falls in love with his girlfriend’s best friend, and an undertaker discovers operatic talent—but sings only in the shower. All these stories are united not only by a love for the Italian capital and numerous references to Fellini, but also by a subtly hidden theme of man’s inability to accept his own destiny.
“Friendship”
Have you ever had a sudden desire to make friends with an interesting person? Most likely, yes—and perhaps it ended in a pleasant acquaintance. But have you ever crawled through a sewer with a newfound friend? Broke through a glass door with your body? Threatened to kill a friend’s friends? Even if you haven’t, this movie is still for you. This crazy comedy starring Tim Robinson (The Furniture Company) and Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) balances somewhere between Dumb and Dumber and psychological thrillers like Gone Girl. It’s simultaneously funny, disturbing, and excruciatingly awkward—and yet it’s impossible not to empathize with the characters. A benchmark cringe comedy, where the main source of humor is shame, which the hero himself seems not to feel at all.
“The Name”
During a dinner party, Vincent (Patrick Bruel), who is about to become a father, tells his friends that he will name his future son Adolphe. The joke does not provoke laughter, but has the effect of an exploding bomb. The evening of several families turns into an avalanche of mutual reproaches and revelations. Unlike many conversational comedies in a confined space (like the Italian “Perfect Strangers”), “The Name” does not change intonation and proves how a witty and dynamic film grows from one awkward line. Later, its authors, Alexandre de La Patellière and Mathieu Delaporte, would prove themselves in large-scale film adaptations of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, but it all begins with this light and charming trifle.
“Monty Python and the Holy Grail”
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table set out in search of the Holy Grail, meeting immortal warriors, wondrous creatures, and evil spirits along the way. But you won’t be able to yawn: this is the epitome of unbridled British humor, a great absurdist comedy that mercilessly deconstructs one of the main myths of English culture—Arthurianism. After the cancellation of the Monty Python television show, its creators go all out in this film. A killer rabbit, an anarchist commune, laughing Frenchmen, a monster named Aargh, and a Black Knight who stubbornly ignores the loss of his limbs—absurdity is elevated to the absolute here. It was with this film that Terry Gilliam honed his directorial imagination, which he would later develop in “The Brothers Grimm” and “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”
“Soap Opera”
What happens when you put a guy off the street in charge of a federal television channel? Hoping for failure and a collapse of the stock market, the board of directors puts Vladislav Viktorovich, a loser gas station attendant, in the boss’s chair. But the bug turns out to be a feature: the dim-witted guy talking to the TV turns out to be the perfect visionary and competent manager. The very existence of this series seems no less insane. Ilya Kulikov, the creator of “Policeman from Rublyovka,” gave the entire Russian television industry a real scolding—and then aired it. For Sergei Burunov, the role was one of the best in his career, and for the creators, it was both an outlet and a platform for experimentation.
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