If you have ever spent any time living in Plovdiv then you will surely enjoy seeing this film on the big screen. The cinematography is worth the price of admission by itself. Bulgaria's 'cultural capital' is already picturesque enough in its own right, yet somehow the filmmakers have managed to make Plovdiv appear even _more_ beautiful and charming, which is quite a task. Bravo.
I'll provide two reviews here, one brief (without spoilers); one more detailed (with some spoilers). Bear in mind that this review is being written by a non-Bulgarian who is not well versed enough in Bulgarian history and culture to determine the merits of certain elements of the storyline and dialogue of the film. Also, this reviewer may be somewhat biased due to having lived in Plovdiv for a few years and therefore developing a sentimental attachment to the city.
**Brief (no spoilers)**
This film is excellent in some respects, and good in many others, but not quite as good in others. It is worth seeing, but without expectations of a 10/10 classic thriller, because this is not that. If you go into it simply hoping for an entertaining two hours, then you are likely to be satisfied. At the very least, you'll get to see some marvelous shots of one of Europe's most underrated cities, from well-known monuments to dimly-lit laneways to riverbanks to trendy / expat bars. You may also find yourself being encouraged to think about certain elements of Bulgarian culture and history in ways you hadn't before, and good films tend to encourage you to _think_.
**Detailed (some spoilers)**
Some of the casting and acting is brilliant, the old former spook being a case in point. This character was the one which kept me most interested in the story from beginning to end. Even though he spoke mostly in Bulgarian (of which I speak little), I felt a sincerity in this character, I wanted to learn more about his past, and see what his outcomes would be.
From a technical perspective, the framing of shots, use of camera angles and zooms and so forth, and the editing in particular were terrific for probably 90% of the film. For example, the use of the camera lift upwards as the suspect was climbing a wall, or the zoom in on a character as he sat bemused in his room, these things were planned and executed and edited superbly, scene after scene after scene, it was clear that a lot of thought had gone into so much of how this was put together, aesthetically it was a treat to watch. Massive kudos to whoever wrote the storyboard and whoever did the editing.
The sound effects and music were generally very good, there was no part of the film which was jarring or sounded 'off'. The gentle jazzy track in the cafe when the lady was going over her newly-found evidence, for example, was perfectly selected. One thing though, it did seem like at times the dubbing of the voices was just a slightly amiss. Not enough to ruin the immersion of the film, but noticeable nonetheless. I would imagine the ADR had to be done for certain scenes e.g. The scene in the bar (due to the noise of cars passing by).
Overall, from a production standpoint, this film was much better than I had expected from an independent film. Credit to all involved.
The story itself did not quite live up to the standards of the technical production. For a thriller, this was an unorthodox story in that the culprit was revealed in the beginning, and his motives were never shown to be anything more advanced or interesting than the result of raw, child-like emotions. There was some suspense in terms of how the main characters and their story arcs would finally tangle or untangle themselves, but in the end, there was no big reveal in this regard either. It could be argued that we were left to ponder how self-aware the bad guy really was the whole time, and fill in the pieces for ourselves as to how he became this way, and where he might end up next, but there was no real character development, or serious exploration of the psychology behind 'good' and 'evil', at least with regards to the main plot.
For a moment during the film, I had begun to wonder if there might be some kind of Shyamalan style twist whereby we find out that one or more of the characters were really working with the bad guy, or against their family member, or as part of some multi-decade post-communist secret service underground game of cat and mouse (pardon the pun) or spy vs spy... but this did not eventuate.
Ultimately, the main plotline seemed to boil down to: strange foreign guy with serious mental issues gets mad at a guest, kills her, comes up with clever schemes to cover his tracks, some other dodgy foreigner plays the fool, they get into a fight, the strange foreign guy kills him too, needs to cover his tracks even further, by random chance he then gets into a confrontation with some dodgy locals, so he kills them as well, all the while being pursued by a detective, a retired spy, and a beautiful local lady...
The sideplot, regarding the retired spy's 'scapegoating' and attempts to clear his name, brought some interesting ideas to the fore. At one point, he says to his granddaughter, 'the foreigners think the communist times were all black and white', and she replies, 'I am Bulgarian and even I don't understand what happened back then' (I am paraphrasing, but you get the idea). It seemed as though the filmmaker(s) wanted to explore this strange element of Bulgarian society and history, which --
((and I started writing about it here but, you know what, it isn't worth it, any foreigner who has lived here for long enough knows what I am talking about)).
Insofar as the filmmakers were indeed trying to explore this (shall we say) 'quirky' element of modern Bulgaria, I give them full credit. I don't know how successful these attempts might ultimately prove to be with the general audience, especially given my own (relative) lack of understanding of the cultural / historical elements at play.
There is so much more I could write here but I think that is enough for now.
I'm glad I saw the film, and I think over the next 20 or 30 years of my life, I will enjoy watching it back again every now and then, and hopefully sharing it with friends and family, because of the way it captures the beautiful city of Plovdiv. I'll be sure to buy a digital copy once it is released.
---
Cinematogrophy: Excellent.
Editing: Superb.
Music and sound: Mostly very good.
Casting and acting: Some excellent, some less so.
Dialogue: Mostly good or okay, some parts not so.
Story and character development: Could have been better.
---
One final thing, there was a particular scene of the film which I found rather amusing. When the detective is interrogating Rick, and Rick says something like, 'No jury will convict me on this evidence', and the detective says, 'Rick, we don't have juries here'. That was a brilliant bit, well written and well acted.
Okay, one more final thing: when the old man says something like, 'in this country, the rumours are more powerful than the facts', I would be very interested to know what Bulgarians, and also what foreigners, think about that piece of dialogue...
I'll provide two reviews here, one brief (without spoilers); one more detailed (with some spoilers). Bear in mind that this review is being written by a non-Bulgarian who is not well versed enough in Bulgarian history and culture to determine the merits of certain elements of the storyline and dialogue of the film. Also, this reviewer may be somewhat biased due to having lived in Plovdiv for a few years and therefore developing a sentimental attachment to the city.
**Brief (no spoilers)**
This film is excellent in some respects, and good in many others, but not quite as good in others. It is worth seeing, but without expectations of a 10/10 classic thriller, because this is not that. If you go into it simply hoping for an entertaining two hours, then you are likely to be satisfied. At the very least, you'll get to see some marvelous shots of one of Europe's most underrated cities, from well-known monuments to dimly-lit laneways to riverbanks to trendy / expat bars. You may also find yourself being encouraged to think about certain elements of Bulgarian culture and history in ways you hadn't before, and good films tend to encourage you to _think_.
**Detailed (some spoilers)**
Some of the casting and acting is brilliant, the old former spook being a case in point. This character was the one which kept me most interested in the story from beginning to end. Even though he spoke mostly in Bulgarian (of which I speak little), I felt a sincerity in this character, I wanted to learn more about his past, and see what his outcomes would be.
From a technical perspective, the framing of shots, use of camera angles and zooms and so forth, and the editing in particular were terrific for probably 90% of the film. For example, the use of the camera lift upwards as the suspect was climbing a wall, or the zoom in on a character as he sat bemused in his room, these things were planned and executed and edited superbly, scene after scene after scene, it was clear that a lot of thought had gone into so much of how this was put together, aesthetically it was a treat to watch. Massive kudos to whoever wrote the storyboard and whoever did the editing.
The sound effects and music were generally very good, there was no part of the film which was jarring or sounded 'off'. The gentle jazzy track in the cafe when the lady was going over her newly-found evidence, for example, was perfectly selected. One thing though, it did seem like at times the dubbing of the voices was just a slightly amiss. Not enough to ruin the immersion of the film, but noticeable nonetheless. I would imagine the ADR had to be done for certain scenes e.g. The scene in the bar (due to the noise of cars passing by).
Overall, from a production standpoint, this film was much better than I had expected from an independent film. Credit to all involved.
The story itself did not quite live up to the standards of the technical production. For a thriller, this was an unorthodox story in that the culprit was revealed in the beginning, and his motives were never shown to be anything more advanced or interesting than the result of raw, child-like emotions. There was some suspense in terms of how the main characters and their story arcs would finally tangle or untangle themselves, but in the end, there was no big reveal in this regard either. It could be argued that we were left to ponder how self-aware the bad guy really was the whole time, and fill in the pieces for ourselves as to how he became this way, and where he might end up next, but there was no real character development, or serious exploration of the psychology behind 'good' and 'evil', at least with regards to the main plot.
For a moment during the film, I had begun to wonder if there might be some kind of Shyamalan style twist whereby we find out that one or more of the characters were really working with the bad guy, or against their family member, or as part of some multi-decade post-communist secret service underground game of cat and mouse (pardon the pun) or spy vs spy... but this did not eventuate.
Ultimately, the main plotline seemed to boil down to: strange foreign guy with serious mental issues gets mad at a guest, kills her, comes up with clever schemes to cover his tracks, some other dodgy foreigner plays the fool, they get into a fight, the strange foreign guy kills him too, needs to cover his tracks even further, by random chance he then gets into a confrontation with some dodgy locals, so he kills them as well, all the while being pursued by a detective, a retired spy, and a beautiful local lady...
The sideplot, regarding the retired spy's 'scapegoating' and attempts to clear his name, brought some interesting ideas to the fore. At one point, he says to his granddaughter, 'the foreigners think the communist times were all black and white', and she replies, 'I am Bulgarian and even I don't understand what happened back then' (I am paraphrasing, but you get the idea). It seemed as though the filmmaker(s) wanted to explore this strange element of Bulgarian society and history, which --
((and I started writing about it here but, you know what, it isn't worth it, any foreigner who has lived here for long enough knows what I am talking about)).
Insofar as the filmmakers were indeed trying to explore this (shall we say) 'quirky' element of modern Bulgaria, I give them full credit. I don't know how successful these attempts might ultimately prove to be with the general audience, especially given my own (relative) lack of understanding of the cultural / historical elements at play.
There is so much more I could write here but I think that is enough for now.
I'm glad I saw the film, and I think over the next 20 or 30 years of my life, I will enjoy watching it back again every now and then, and hopefully sharing it with friends and family, because of the way it captures the beautiful city of Plovdiv. I'll be sure to buy a digital copy once it is released.
---
Cinematogrophy: Excellent.
Editing: Superb.
Music and sound: Mostly very good.
Casting and acting: Some excellent, some less so.
Dialogue: Mostly good or okay, some parts not so.
Story and character development: Could have been better.
---
One final thing, there was a particular scene of the film which I found rather amusing. When the detective is interrogating Rick, and Rick says something like, 'No jury will convict me on this evidence', and the detective says, 'Rick, we don't have juries here'. That was a brilliant bit, well written and well acted.
Okay, one more final thing: when the old man says something like, 'in this country, the rumours are more powerful than the facts', I would be very interested to know what Bulgarians, and also what foreigners, think about that piece of dialogue...
