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The Joke

1990 · 136 min

A slow, wry descent into bureaucratic absurdity, watching a system rot from the inside with deadpan humour and quiet despair.

Directed by
Nizami Musayev, Yefim Abramov
Genres
Comedy
Starring
Rasim Balayev, Ceyhun Mirzäyev, Yashar Nuri
Overview
Made in the tragic comedy genre, this film is about the dysfunctional Soviet management system in Azerbaijan SSR at the end of 1980s and about the decadence and corruption of the Soviet bureaucracy.

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In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
Directed by
Nizami Musayev, Yefim Abramov
Genres
Comedy
Starring
Rasim Balayev, Ceyhun Mirzäyev, Yashar Nuri
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • satiricalstrength 3 of 3
  • darkstrength 2 of 3
  • cynicalstrength 2 of 3
  • absurdstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • corruption
  • power
  • class
  • betrayal
  • politics
Places
  • big city
  • workplace
Era
period
Audience
adult
Form
  • ensemble
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language mild
  • Violence mild
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action2
Horror1
Humour5
Realism8
Romance2
Tension4
Darkness6
Complexity6
Emotional weight5

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Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
comedy
Directed by
Nizami Musayev, Yefim Abramov
Written by
Rovshan Aghayev
Starring
Rasim Balayev, Ceyhun Mirzäyev, Yashar Nuri, Mukhtar Maniyev, Xuraman Hadjiyeva, Elena Kostina, Aleksandr Sharovski, Loghman Karimov
Cinematography
Baghir Rafiyev
Runtime
136 min
Country
Soviet Union
Languages
Azerbaijani, Russian

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