The trials and tribulations of putting a feature film together are illustrated in this 20-minute Russian short. We almost are put in the screenwriter's shoes as we see him struggle with his work. When he completes it, he hands it to the director who then shows it to various people and the writer's script keeps getting edited. Soon the director is taking Valium and writer is getting disheveled.
From there we go through all the steps and meet - in quick flashes - all the people connected from the actors to the cinematographer to the set designer, on and on. As the hapless writer follows along, he has to run for his life in the studio as skeletons and tanks and other wild things that make up some films, speed by and scare the man.
I didn't really see a lot of funny scenes in here, although some of "jokes" kick in more in the second half when we see all problems directors have shooting on location (weather, little kids who don't know their lines, etc.). They also show the director acting like a lunatic and he is more annoying than funny.
I think this would appeal mainly to "insiders" of the film business, who can laugh and poke fun at each other and all the problems one can have trying to make a movie. This won some awards but critics always favor any movie, long or short, that has to do with the film business. I saw this on the "Masters of Russian Animation, Volume One" DVD.
