Pharmakon

"Pharmakon" has a lot of potential to be a gripping, dramatic thriller. Branko is a young Albanian graduate who has recently returned from his pharmacological studies in the United States to work for his wealthy, domineering doctor father. Branko becomes interested (obsessed?) with Sara, a beautiful young nurse whose mother is receiving expensive cancer treatments from Branko's father. There are lots of moral questions and mysteries here. Is Sara in a relationship with the father to pay for her mother's treatment? Are Branko's intentions more akin to love or lust? Is the father a villain or a hero?

There are interesting opportunities to talk about corruption and misogyny in Albania and Albanian culture....

Unfortunately, the film is overlong and spends a third of its running time having its four main characters walk up and down stairs, through hallways and down the street. The film could have benefited from some judicious editing to trim its 135-minute running time, and tightening up the script a bit.

I generally enjoy films from Albania, but this one could have been so much better.

A first feature and a Masterpiece - SIGHT & SOUND, Mark Cousins

In Joni Shanaj's multi-layered debut, a young man returns from his studies in the US, only to fall in love with a mysterious blonde nurse who might be his physician father's lover. Conspiracy thriller meets doomed romance, over a Hitchcockian blonde on whom its male characters project both their worst fears and desires. A brilliant study in people hurtling towards destruction - EEFF, London

Branko, a melancholy young man, has returned to his native country after studying abroad. He now runs a drugstore in a desolate suburb outside Tirana. Most things in his life, including the drugstore, are owned by his father Dr. Sokrat, a highly respected cancer specialist. Branko is shaken out of his rut when he meets Sara, a nurse who also turns out be dependent on Sokrat. Pharmakon is an assured debut about father-son conflict. Branko's quest for solid truths also makes the film a coming of age story and even though Shanaj eschews political lecturing, it is obvious that the cynical, patriarchal system Branko is fighting on a personal level also symbolizes corruption, power hunger and generational strife in Albanian society at large. Albania's Oscar entry - GÖTEBORG INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Johan Blomqvist