AllMovie

Loosely based on Vladimir Mayakovsky's satirical play about little people with overarching ambitions, this officially sponsored film mixes puppetry, live action and cartoons in order to tell its story. Organized in a highly self-referential style, and created in the form of a story-within-a-story, it tells simultaneously of the auditions for a role in a film, shows the film itself, and mixes in real and made-up documentary clips of a historical nature. Moving from 1920's music in the style of Kurt Weill into a rock-operatic mode, it is a fast-paced melange of symbolism, style, and storytelling.