I must say that Niki Iliev's movie 'The Foreigner' was a pleasant surprise. Initially, my expectations were quite low as I haven't seen many decent Bulgarian movies recently (at least, not filmed over the last decade). However, I liked its style, tone, the balance between playful lightness and 'depth'. The music was in sync with the scenery and the characters; nice yet unobtrusive background to what was unfolding on the screen. The characters were well presented with a great sense of humour and some uniquely 'typical' (albeit a bit oversimplified) features of the Balkan mentality. The cinematography was absolutely gorgeous! It reminded me of a peculiar but strangely fascinating mixture between Emir Kusturica's masterpieces (e.g. 'Black cat, white cat') and some of Pedro Almodóvar's earlier movies - e.g. 'Kika', 'Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown' ('Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios'), but with a modern feel. I loved the landscape, the vibrant colours and especially the scenes filmed in the Bulgarian countryside, seen through the eyes of a Frenchman ('The Foreigner') who visits Bulgaria and falls in love at first sight (or imagines himself to be in love!) with a local girl. Actually, the actor playing the foreigner is Lubomir Kovatchev, a very talented Bulgarian actor who speaks French fluently. While watching the movie, I felt almost nostalgic, recalling my childhood in Bulgaria. To me, this movie seems like a lovely portrayal of the 'meeting' between two worlds - Eastern and Western Europe, modern and traditional values, the City and the Village, past and present. The emphasis is not so much on the love story than on the collision between these two worlds. We all as human beings sometimes struggle to understand not only each other's differences based on our origin, not only each other's language, but each other's perspective. This led to many comic and at times, tragic situations. However, the beauty of this movie was also in capturing 'moments of meeting' between people of diverse background which transcended language and verbal communication. To quote Exupéry, 'It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye'. The only criticism I have is that some of the characters (for example, Valentin Goshev's character Zlatan) were a bit one-dimensional and too much like the famous literary archetype of the Bulgarian anti-hero Bay Ganyo, created in the late 19th century as an epitome of arrogance and ignorance. I think, however, that by the end of the story this character's personality certainly evolved as well as the others'. I liked how some stereotypes were broken, for example that all Bulgarian people living in villages are 'dumb' and savage. On the contrary, gentleness and sensitivity were evoked even in the hearts of the seemingly rough fathers and brothers of the two rival families. The constant battles between the two brothers and the gossiping of (the supporting character) Magdalena's sisters were a pleasure to behold. The ending was priceless! Overall, I enjoyed this movie very much. Well done to Niki Iliev and the crew!
