Grzeli nateli dgeebi
In Bloom
Tblisi, 1992. Eka and Natia are 14-year-old best friends living in cramped family apartments in crumbling high-rise housing projects. Big problems loom in the background: the aftershocks of the soviet Union collapsing, a war with breakaway Abkhazia and deadbeat fathers who are either abusive drunks or mysteriously absent criminals. But like all prepubescent schoolgirls, Eka and Natia are far more preoccupied with classroom gossip, dodging the attention of local bullies and the budding sexual power they exert over neighborhood boys. loosely based on ekvtimishvili’s childhood memories of growing up in newly independent Georgia, IN BlOOM has the texture of authentic experience. There are manifold plot twists in ekvtimishvili’s fictionalized memoir, but novelistic nuance seems more important here than straight narrative momentum. Even in their least dramatic scenes, Babluani and Bokeria share a natural chemistry and magnetic on-screen presence. The languid camera work of veteran Romanian New Wave cinematographer oleg Mutu also merits a mention, painting Tbilisi in chilly blues and warm browns, like vintage tinted postcards. (Stephen Dalton)
In the presence of Simon Groß.
- Lika Babluani - Eka
- Mariam Bokeria - Natia
- Zurab Gogaladze - Kote
- Data Zakareishvili - Lado
- Giorgi Aladashvili - Kopla
- Gia Shonia - Wakho
- Ana Nijaradze - Ana, Ekas Mother)
- Nana Ekvtimishvili
- Oleg Mutu
- Irakli Ivanishvili
- Stefan Stabenow
- Paata Godziahhvili
- Konstantine Japaridze
- Medea Bakradze
Memento Films