Kecove

tells a story about a few young people, some with broken hearts, some with broken dreams, all facing hopeless grim reality of the corrupted society they live in.

taking refuge at a beautiful deserted beach, were they can feel free, far away from problems that their country has been struggling with for the past 20 years, but the same problems pop up their ugly face even in this forgotten piece of paradise unlike many modern Bulgarian productions acting is pretty good, not deadly stiff.

the location, one of the very few on the Bulgarian sea coast, left without massive ugly concrete buildings (at the moment of filming), is beautiful, and let me assure you - life there really is very easy going, much like depicted in the movie.

so - a great effort, congrats to the team

but this is its virtue. old things, a lot of clichés, young people in search of life sense, a beach, fight against law, rules and society, confessions, friendship, bitter melancholia and joy of small things. slices of freedom. and end like part of modern fairy tale. nothing original. but the state of prison in yourself is without limits. and, in crisis hours, this kind of film, with dust of Balkan way to resist against existence troubles, with delicate harsh poetry, with the expressions of a generation frustration, the sea, the dialogs, the joy to be only yourself is really cure. a film about nothing. and, in fact, about all. a drawing. and tool for a trip in his experiences for its public.

Saw this film in the Bulgarian film festival a couple of days ago, possibly my very first Bulgarian-originated film ever. It is a superbly well-crafted adventurer of 6 strange youngsters congregate at an unknown beach near Sofia and experiences their carefree indulgence with the nature and rediscover a rite-of-passage in their respective inner journey.

The film, elaborates magnificently a repressive malaise in the city in the beginning, especially with the ferocious tendency towards violence and unjustness. When the sea beach scenario pops up, the backbone of the story finally emerges, a stint of aimlessness is palatable but some interrupting fly-on-the-fall interviews on each character distract the somewhat weary idleness of the hedonistic rapture on the beach.

A looming mishap is indomitably approaching, all frolic is doomed to be ephemeral, nevertheless the would-be THELMA & LOUISE (1991) ending curbs within a detour to an unrealistic escapism, which in my opinion points up an inconvenient situation of the downhill of a lost youth peer group, and it's not provincial, it's global. The final scene holds the stance of being drolly whimsical and a shade poignant simultaneously.

The 6-packed cast is favorable in depicting an evocative harmony and the standouts are a tomboyish Marian Valev and the co-director-writer-actor of the film Valeri Yordanov, an intimidating look at first sight, but witty and cordial inside, which convincingly breaches the stereotype of skinheads and tattooers.

Visually abundant, this film carries an audience-favored narrative and avoids melodramatic clichés to depict the otherwise easily hoarse mutual attractions among characters. It obtained an avid round of applause after the screening, and it was an indeed pleasure for me to fetch an opportunity to watch something recommendable from countries lesser known for their film productivity.

one of films from the East. about same clash between ideals and reality. about refuges, friendship, life problems , need to preserve the age of freedom and to discover yourself in the other. delicate, amusing, dark. useful. for describe a state of a too long transition to an idealistic form of normality. for the beautiful cinematography. for the dialogues. and performances. for the small individual cases. for the spirit of joy. and for the traits of each character. and, sure, for the honest manner to define essential problems. and this is all.

Kecove: Bulgarian film about six people who become friends whilst escaping their lives in the city for a getaway at the beach on the Black Sea. Their time turns into all summer long, setting up a camp and meeting more people to enjoy spending each passing day with. There is basically no story whatsoever -- it's just a glimpse into part of their lives. The end is symbolic of the lost youth of today but a little too crazy to believe. Good acting and directing but due to lack of story, while interesting, it's not much more than a reality TV show. Still it kept me hanging on and I was thrilled to see my first movie from Bulgaria.

7.0 / 10 stars

--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener