Eesti matus

René Vilbre's Eesti matus, adapted from Andrus Kivirähk's beloved stage play, hits the screen carrying the legacy of two decades of theatre - and buckles under that weight. It's marketed as a culture-clash comedy full of family drama, but ends up feeling like a jumbled sketch show instead of a solid film.

The story has potential: Andres, a young Estonian man, brings his carefree Black girlfriend Lee to his grandfather's funeral, unintentionally throwing her into a mess of small-town oddities and old-school attitudes. This setup could have delivered sharp humour or touching insight, but the result feels aimless. Scenes jump around with little flow, making the film feel more like scattered moments than a complete story.

The acting is uneven. Markus Habakukk's Andres is grounded and relatable, while Sandra Ashilevi's Lee adds warmth and sincerity. Peeter Oja as Tiit and Ago Anderson as Karla handle most of the jokes - loud, physical, and crude - but their routines grow stale fast. The humour aims to reveal cultural quirks and biases, but often falls into stereotypes and surface-level jokes.

Visually and in tone, the film doesn't move far from its stage roots. It feels like a play filmed for TV, lacking the visual depth or cinematic energy. Some genuine emotion comes through - mostly in Merle Palmiste's subtle, heartfelt moments - but it's lost under the noisy chaos.

In the end, Eesti matus is a well-known cultural moment that doesn't quite work as a movie. Estonian audiences might see familiar faces and ideas, and maybe some viewers across the region will connect. But for most, it probably won't entertain or say much. Maybe worth a stream - no need to rush to the theater.

A spectacle to Estonian roots, our roots. And You will hear multiple Estonian songs, Legendary songs.

Do not forget it is a comedy so do not take everything as pure gold what is talked but there is more truth than You probably think.

Ago Anderson makes a performance as drunkard You do not forget easily and hope to see Sandra Ashilevi in future movies.

Had quite big expectations when saw the list of Estonian actors there. But really was disappointed afterwards. Especially disappointed in Andrus Kivirähk.

The movie overall has no literal point. Okay, I understand that the father dies and that's what brings the family together. It's quite like that in Estonia, that when the family gets together, there are always problems. Somebody needs to be drunk, somebody needs to dig up some old problems, somebody has to sow intrigues etc. This is all very common to Estonians. Sad but true.

So having the troublesome Estonian family come together after a tragedy should be fun to watch? Not really. I think the movie missed a specific point. There was nothing leading to anywhere within the actions or the topics talked. In some way it felt like a movie put together by some clips. Something is happening over there, something else happens over there and so on. The story did not connect very well. I understand that they tried to make this as real as possible but really, who would like to see a traditional Estonian funeral gathering? It is obvious that the story needed to be a bit exaggerated to make it interesting.

About the funny things... well Ago did the job there but it felt kind of not so funny after seeing the same jokes over and over again in the middle of the movie. Didn't really understand the music and dancing scenes in the end of the movie? Were they supposed to be funny? Why did those scenes have to be so long? Those were completely pointless and bored the movie down a bit.

So in conclusion, if it should be running on TV, yeah go ahead and watch it. If you need to pay for that in the theatre to see it... not so sure about that.