Movie reviews

ARTEKINO FESTIVAL ONLINE

MOTHERLAND DIRECTOR Q&A

The American-raised director is yet another director from outside our continent at the European film festival. Maybe they should name the event Both Americas in Europe? Tomas Vengris is also an alien to the movie topic. He's edited movies before and he still enjoys the cutting job. What he wanted to reflect in the film, was a strong sense of subjectivity. They wanted the boy to get accustomed to the camera so they let him just wander around. The bit in the film when the boy smells bark comes from that free wandering.

ნეგატიური ნომრები (NEGATIVE NUMBERS) 

Switched off. The Georgian feature, based on real events, tells of a prison rugby team - nothing engaging in the story, nothing attractive in the form either.

Ο ΓΙΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΣΟΦΙΑΣ (S0N OF SOFIA)

Watchable. Finally a truly engaging drama about building a patchwork family and different visions of what a family looks like. With quality cinematography and a stylish set design. On the other hand, the movie attempts to incorporate both Greek and Russian Olympics, fairy tales, theatre, the history of Sparta into the plot which enlivens the main storyline but doesn't make much sense otherwise. As for gay prostitution - too many pathologies for one movie.

ნეგატიური ნომრები (NEGATIVE NUMBERS) WRITER-DIRECTOR AND LEAD ACTOR Q&A

The rehearsals and shooting took place in an authentic prison over a month. I was impressed by how the director struggled with his English but had no qualms about asking for a word he wasn't sure of - a sign of a sincere personality.

Ο ΓΙΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΣΟΦΙΑΣ (S0N OF SOFIA) DIRECTOR Q&A

The director is a mother of an 11-year-old son herself. She had a difficult childhood but different - she was a refugee. Interestingly, she's unable to pronounce her boy-character's Russian name correctly. As for creating different imaginary layers, she just associated the fact that animals appear both in fairy tales but also as mascots of Olympic Games. On depicted pathologies: "There is no good and no bad, there is no black and white. It has to do with the point of view."