In Bloom

I do not agree with Nika Gigashvili. I think Georgia should not do international movies.

I am in love with the country. And I am from Hungary. And we have similarities, after the socialist era collapsed.

For me was quite enough, how they were speaking about the whole rape and stuff during marriage. Maybe 'cuz I am a girl. The ignorance is a very massive part of the film. And during my travel through the country I experienced the same. I mean the locals with each other, not with me. But situations were quite similar during my childhood. Except guns.

I was a great movie. I watched it two weeks before and it is still keep me thinking.

"In bloom" is a film about two 14 year old girls, Eka (played by Lika Babluani) and Natia (played by Miriam Bokeria). It is very much the same as "Show me love" (1998, Lukas Moodysson) in that the one with the biggest mouth at the end of the day has the least courage.

The society in which the girls grow up is however vastly different. The stable welfare state Sweden in "Show me love" versus Georgia in "In bloom". Georgia was just seperated from the disintegrating Soviet Union at the time in which the film is situated and happens to have a fairly masculine (and for adolescent girls thus restrictive) culture.

The same theme (two 14 year old girls) in a different setting (two vastly different countries) provides for two fascinating films. The two non professional actresses playing the two leading roles are marvelous. Especially the scene in which Eka performs a traditional dance on the weddingparty of Natia is realy beautiful. Beautiful is also the cinematography of Oleg Mutu, who co-operated with some of the directors of the Romanian wave a few years earlier.

Georgia is a relatively new film country, which is not surprising for a state that has become independant not so long ago. It should however not be forgotten that some famous directors from the Soviet era were born in Georgia, such as Mikhail Kalatozov and Sergei Parajanov.

In Bloom is a must see movie about Georgia's recent past. This period has been covered time after time in many movies but none of them compares.

To start with the plot - it's very simple and depicts almost everyone's life in 90s Georgia. Yet it is so well transferred to the screen, I could not tear away. The movie shows every ugliness we have lived through and it was so authentic I could not get rid of a lump in my throat throughout whole film. Small Georgian quirks might be also interesting and funny to a foreign viewer.

Beautifully shot, with every detail taken into consideration. Tbilisi has changed so much in these 20 years and yet the film captured the 90s vibe perfectly.

None of the child actors are professionals but they are doing magnificent job. They are very real and relatable.

Overall it was a brilliant effort, which deserves to be recognized.

The story revolves around two 14 year old girls, best friends growing up together in Georgia.

Although it's set in 1992, the time-line and history is merely a canvas for a tale of friendship and difficulties in a flawed culture and society.

We witness the hardships the two girls have to go through and negative or positive emotional bonds they have with friends/schoolmates/family.

There's not much dramatization or cheesy drama going on, since the narrative is documentary-style realism à-la "A Separation". I have to applaud the two young actresses for more-or-less carrying the whole story on their shoulders, with success. Not that the other actors are bad, they all contribute to the authentic atmosphere.

It's also hard to ignore the setting, the homes and streets that reek of post communist decay. This felt personal to me, having grown up in an "fresh" democratic Romania, where the circumstances were similar, even if not the same.

I can totally recommend "In Bloom" to anyone interested in a good story. This is no Hollywood moneymaker, but I also disagree with another reviewer writing that it's hard to understand for non-Georgians. Cinema is universal.

I don't believe I've ever seen a Georgian film before watching In Bloom, but it was a great place to start and I'll certainly be looking more into Georgian cinema.

Like many coming of age stories the film focuses on two young teenage girls, but unlike most typical American or European films, the background for this film involves a country that has recently overcome one violent coup and is in the middle of a civil war. Screenwriter and co-director Nana Ekvtimishvili handles these details with lovely subtlety never making them feel heavy handed or overt. The camera- work for the film is also a knock out. The cinematographer, Oleg Mutu, is the same one responsible for the Romanian masterpiece 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, and he flawlessly employs the steady hand and long takes he used in that movie to great effect here. There is a beautiful 5 minute scene that is a one shot take of one of the girls dancing and it is the perfect meld of technical camera-work and physical performance.

I would be remiss of course not to mention the acting of the two lead girls who are simply fantastic. And while they are both strong actresses, it's Lika Babluani, in a much quieter performance, who is devastating. She has a face made for cinema and she can carry those long takes and fill them up with her presence without feeling laboured or strained.