Iztochni piesi

What I particularly liked (and I know friends of mine who did as well) in this movie is that it is not a movie about a person, or a story, but mostly an aesthetic vision of a city... which happens to be my city. The storyline is almost missing: apart from the sad coincidence that one brother took part in the beating of another, there is not much of a narrative thread and the entire movie is just a sequence of impressions of present-day Sofia, including the people living in it. Hristo Hristov became the focus of the film because he represented a particular type of Sofianites (actually he was born in Burgas but that does not make him less of a Sofianite since this is the city where he painted): artists who have received serious formation, have developed their own style, have reached the level of creators of unquestionably valuable works, and yet have found no chance to live on their art and be successful. Hristo was not the first, and will not be the last of generations of creative persons who had to find various exits from the difficult situation the last twenty years placed us all in. He chose drugs and in the real life passed away even before the movie was finished. But his sad story is one of hope, too, since the real-life Hristo, even posthumously, proved that recognition can come (and we are now expecting the long-postponed exhibition of his art), while the movie-character Hristo showed to his younger brother that there is alternative to violence and hatred, and that there is enough beauty around us to save us from despair.

This film is real, touchable; and at the same time poetic, touching! It reveals the condition of a lost soul of Sofia (the city), a young man who is leaving narcotics behind but there is nothing else in our modern life here to replace them. Boredom, inertia, dissatisfaction, pointlessness, emotional routine plague the souls in Sofia of all generations, young or old. Only love might give hope...

The character is looking for this one little piece of love, maybe hidden somewhere in his heel...

The film makes keen and exact observations at people, at the cityscape, at the relations in Bulgaria. Although it tells about drug addiction, about skinhead groups, it felt like it is coming from my own life! I could recognise friends, parents, the apartments i've lived in. The details are 100% there. The actor play is very very strong (with the exception of Stefan Danailov's student, maybe on purpose?). The young man is himself, not an actor. He is showing his own life, his guts, which makes 'Eastern plays' even more dramatic.

The camera work is incredible - its an art photographer's capture of Sofia. Some will say it is ugly, for me it is ravishingly beautiful, dignified. Sofia becomes a serene participant in the story. The music is a participant as well! 'Inject me love' was not composed for the film yet it fits it perfectly. Maybe the movie will put the "underground" Bulgarian electroacoustic group Nassekomix on the world stage?

Staged in current day Sofia this film portrays the effects of an all too known and all too frightening blind hatred toward anyone that is different. Two brothers, one an artistic drug addict on the mend, the other a racist. Once divided now brought back together by a single event that forever changes the lives of all.

Dark and dreary, scary and painful. Films that tangle with racism in the way this film does always are like that. It settles like a huge weight on the stomach and doesn't lighten for many long moments. It never gets too heavy though - it's just right.

The acting work is fitting, the characters displayed are real. And this makes it all the more scary. It's all too easy to feel a form of compassion for all of them, which adds a lot to the film.

8 out of 10 life altering choices

This is probably the best Bulgarian film in a decade. There are a couple of things that must be said about it. 1. “Eastern Plays” is first and foremost a humane story. I cannot underestimate the importance of that fact given the long-standing tradition of Bulgarian movies (and European cinematography in general) to intimidate their characters and to dissect them with horrifying bluntness. 2. More than that, the film is a really, really good contemporary narrative. The story is told in a subtle, calm and compassionate manner. 3. This film is a rare display of the importance of each and every human existence. The idea is presented without the help of complex existential constructions or intellectual roundabouts.

Bulgarian cinema is witnessing a new resurgence after the demise of communism.This change can be seen in films made by new generation directors who are quick to observe realities around them and depict what they have personally experienced.Bulgarian director Kamen Kalev is a lucky person as not only he got a chance to study at prestigious French film school FEMIS at Paris but also got a lot of critical as well as commercial success with his first film "Eastern Plays" which was part of "Quinzaine Des Réalisateurs" section at Cannes International Film Festival 2009.It can be surmised that Kamen Kalev's film "Eastern Plays" has been a success as it looks at mundane issues haunting Bulgarian society albeit from an international perspective. It is true that all nations are plagued with problems like racism, skinheads and unemployment but there are very few films which are able to combine a local point of view with that of a much broader international dynamism.This is the reason why this film's lead players speak some of their dialogs in English.Although "Eastern Plays" is a film about tough themes,it is good that it has not ignored its lighter side.This is the reason why Kamen Kalev's film does not appear as a serious film preaching hard to follow moral values.Film critic Lalit Rao got a chance to see this film at 14th International film Festival of Kerala 2009.