Why Don’t You Just Die! review – Sergio Leone homage is bloody fun

You need only imagine a feature-length version of the bone-crunching, eye-gorging fight between Uma Thurman and Darryl Hannah in Kill Bill, Vol. 2 to get a good idea of what this Russian black comedy from writer-director Kirill Sokolov has in store. Why Don't You Just Die! is an astonishingly competent debut that's set almost entirely within one room, where guns explode, heads are relentlessly battered, and characters scramble to make weapons from whatever it is they can get their hands on.

Most of the action unfolds in the retro-inclined apartment of police detective Andrei (Vitaliy Khaev), who one day is visited by a mysterious young man named Metvey (Aleksandr Kuznetsov), claiming to be his daughter's boyfriend. As the two sit down to await her arrival, the sight of a concealed clawhammer quickly unnerves Andrei; suddenly the two are beating one another to a pulp as Andrei's put-upon wife, Tasha, (Elena Shevchenko), listens in from an adjacent room.

But who are these men, and why are they fighting? Andrei, another in a long line of indestructible filmic Russians, is the kind of guy who will chew on an entire salami before bashing his wife over the head with it for suggesting that maybe violence isn't the answer. Metvey, meanwhile, is harder to read – and that goes doubly for his relationship with Andrei's daughter, Olya (Evgeniya Kregzhde), whose role in this twisty story is unveiled in flashbacks. These are deployed at regular intervals to break up the action and key us into the lead character's motives, flipping the narrative on its head.

Sokolov clearly worships at the temple of Tarantino (and perhaps even at that of Tarantino's own big name imitator, Guy Richie), his film recalling the bloodthirsty antics of the basement scene in Inglourious Basterds. But mostly this stylish thriller – heavy on crash-zooms – steals from the works of spaghetti western maestro Sergio Leone, a point emphasised not only by a Mexican stand-off that's shot and edited like the finale from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, but the film's wailing, Ennio Morricone-esque musical score.

This is the sort of film that serves to remind you how camera movements and clever edits can be funny in and of themselves (it is not surprising to learn that Sokolov also edited the film, which unravels with a single-minded fluidness). And though this is an unashamedly violent affair, Why Don't You Just Die! retains a cartoon, comic book-y aesthetic (severed arteries squirt watery red blood, Samurai movie style) that means most of the blood splattering provokes laughter. Some moments hit harder – a TV set colliding with a human head in slow-motion, for example, or a wince-inducing torture scene with an electric drill – but in essence this is live-action Looney Tunes.

Sokolov's film has a visual look that's bordering on lush: the use of saturated colours and careful camera placement means it retains a kind of formal elegance even in its most frenzied moments. Impressive, too, is the sound design, a medley of exaggerated effects that play brilliantly alongside the film's kinetic sensibilities. If there's a flaw, it's that the first half, lighter on story, thrills slightly more than what comes later. But that's a minor complaint in a debut that hits like a sledgehammer, leaving you giddy and reeling, desperate for more.

Why Don't You Just Die! is now available to rent and buy on select VOD platforms.