Voevoda

I was really excited to see this movie after the trailer and mostly because of the music of the Bulgarian band Kayno Yesno Slonce. But from the beginning till the end this movie was a full disappointment for me, having nothing to do with most of the reviews that are spawning in the Bulgarian media, so I sat down to write a review. The movie tries to escape the socialist Bulgarian TV movie style and fails. The actors play like it's theater and their language, which isn't old Ottoman Bulgarian, nor some kind of clear dialect, but something with the pathos and diction of a former socialist memorial speech. There is hardly any authenticity in language, appearance, haircuts and so on. The motivations of the heroes remain unclear and their psychological development is so awfully depicted that I wished that this movie was just an action flick, it would have made it much better to watch that way. But, as in all Bulgarian movies, there is not enough money for the action scenes, so don't expect real effect in battles, but just action tricks, used in the early cinema to fool the viewer that action takes place. The music of Kayno Yeslo Slonce is sometimes used without any connection to the scene. You can hear the same music in a love and in a battle scene.

There is not much to say about this "movie". I understand the idea to create something different, but in this case the DP should be fired and never given the chance to shoot any other movie ever again. Everything is zoomed in the entire time, but the focus was not on the actor's faces, but instead on their chins, necks, back of their heads, shoulders, back, legs and so on, leaving the audience to wonder who is talking to who and what's going on. And that is during the entire movie leaving you with headache and no simpathy to any of the character's. Total waist of time, energy and potential of all those actors that were trying to give that thing some sense.

Awful script, awfully shot... I was really disappointed by the movie. All of the scenes are shot with one camera, from awfully bad angles and always zoomed to the maximum. You basically cannot understand what is going on around. There were scenes in which you are basically watching the hair of the character for too long time and nothing is happening. The story line is stupid, actually there is no story line. During the whole 2 hours, there are about 15 minutes of speech. You cannot understand what is happening most of the time. Random scenes are put together without any thought. Wouldn't recommend watching it, I will put 1/10 rating, you will just waste 2 hours of your life.

I liked the film in general. It is definitely not the best Bulgarian film in the past few years, but it is good enough. The camera work is indeed a bit strange in some scenes, but at the end it is more important what the story is all about and the characters involved in it.

I liked the cast and the pace of the film. The balance between the drama and the adventure is very good. Music and effects are also descent.

The most important part is that modern Bulgarian cinema is getting better and better these days, most probably because they don't count that much on government financing anymore and more and more films are being produced every year.

I never write reviews, but the 1 star reviews left for this film prompted me to do so (especially since most users that left one created a profile 1-3 weeks ago).

First I will address what most people seems to be unhappy about - 1. the way it is filmed/poor directing; 2. the lack of plot; 3. poor acting/ not enough dialog.

1. Directing - I understand why some people would think this is not well directed - camera sometimes focuses on a detail from the scene, composition is not traditional. Its just not what we are used to. But when something is different it does not mean it is bad. The director was trying to create an atmosphere and she succeeded, at least worked for me. You could say the directing is a bit artsy and not very traditional, but again, not bad. Think Mr.Robot frame composition - you feel like something is off, but it is intentional, it is not bad directing.

2. Plot - this is a character driven film, so don't expect plot twists, checkpoints, rewards or any kind of traditional narrative at all. We are following the character's journey and yes, there is no mystery to be solved, there is no miraculous salvation. Rumena was a real person and we know what happened to her. This film will not distract you from your everyday life with a convoluted story involving aliens - it will corner you and make you think (unless you're too busy looking at your phone).

3. Acting/Dialog - There is very little dialog, which I think is a nod to one of Bulgaria's classics, Kozijat rog (1972). As far as I remember that movie had less than 100 lines and it didn't need more. Everything was left to the emotions portrayed non-verbally. This movie is the same in a lot of aspects. The director is probably a fan of the rule "show, don't tell". This way you can actually enjoy all the little nuances in the acting, which you would have missed if there was too much blabbering. I really do not understand people that say acting was bad in the movie - to me it was very genuine and raw.

Now that I've addressed that, let's move on.

Something that hasn't been mentioned yet is that this film is surprisingly funny at times. It has that dry, intelligent humour that needs good comedic timing and a lot of people in the theater were chuckling at times (me included). It was not overwhelming thought, it blended really well with the film and was not distracting.

Of course I don't think this movie is perfect, sometimes it is too artsy in directing and camera work and this can be distracting. Music choices were not always the best (music was still beautiful overall), there was some repetition, probably related to budget restrictions but I LOVED the singing scenes.

Lastly, saying this as a woman, I felt that the movie focused a little too much on "Men hurt women". I truly believe that society as a whole is responsible for the sufferings of marginalized groups, not men in particular (or any other privileged group). There are plenty of women that actually are supporting some very bad practices and stereotyping in a way that hurts both men and women (yes, the patriarchy). To keep this short, the key is in balance, not "Women are better but men are in their way".

Overall I really recommend this movie if you like a good drama/biopic/historical drama. If you are a Fast and Furious kind of person, well, there's plenty for you on the market.