Vodka Lemon

This is at best a distant cousin to the Eastern European Life Really Sucks genre.

The story of the slow dissolution of a society, where the young move out and the old quietly die (often before the grave) plays out so frequently in Western art houses and film festivals. Is it a matter of exporting things you already have a surplus of?

Anyway, nothing much happens. The few instances of "magic" aren't supported by the overall structure and theme. This is a snapshot of a dying town, somewhere out on the suburban steppes, just waiting to fade slowly into the white background of the near-eternal northern winter.

Definitely not a film for everyone. But even in spite of the horrible poverty and other realities of "living" in Armenia I would recommend it. The lead actor and actress plays their roles admirably as do most of the more minor characters. I especially recommend this film for its displays of Armenian culture and tradition. These scenes were all touching, funny, and hopeful. The ending is a little too surrealistic for me and this unexpected conclusion certainly does not help me in recommending this film. However, all things considered, I would still recommend this film to all who would like a meaningful view of real developing world poverty, tradition, and humor.

The reality of the most miserable places of Armenia. Beautiful landscapes whose beauty is just comparable to the poverty of the people that lives there. The dismantling of the Sovietic Union left too many people to fate.

"Vodka Lemon" is basically a contemplative movie, it's so poetic and the photography is just awesome. Maybe the development of some of the characters is rather random, and those who like to see some action will probably dislike "Vodka". Some may think that in "VL" does not happen anything... but that's not true. It's just that the things that happen in this movie are so small, the people that the story is about are so insignificant... but hey, that's life.

*My rate: 7/10

Vodka Lemon is such a great movie by a Kurdish director living in France. The film is full of surrealism (like the horse galloping in the streets and the ending in which the piano moves by itself)and comedy! The beautiful snow covered landscape is extraordinary, the scenes during the nights are best in terms of cinematography. I think this film is Hiner Saleem's best film, after moderately nice "Long Live the Bride...Liberation of Kurdistan", in particular. It shows how Kurdish people living in Armenia influenced by the Russian and Armenian cultures, like drinking vodka-lemon all day, even at the cemetery, while mourning for the dead wife. The story is well organized and weaved, sub-plots works well (like the piano player girl, Zine, and the Avin's marriage with the weird Kurdish man). Vodka Lemon's representation of Kurdish life and culture in Armenia is proper and great I think, Saleem is opening a window that reflects the life of Kurds in Diasporas. He did it before in his first feature "Long Live the Bride..)

devrim kilic

editor in chief www.kurdishcinema.org www.kurdishcinema.com

Vodka Lemon is a charming, yet extremely uneven Arminian film that will delight some and bore others. Though reasonably well-crafted, the film lacks any real "zing", relying instead on many scenes that will seem commonplace to the astute art-house viewer. The film contains a handful of moments of sheer cinematic brilliance, unfortunately, they deserve a film worthy of their genius. Too dark to be a dark comedy and to light to be a serious drama, Vodka Lemon will leave many views disoriented and ultimately disgruntled. You may laugh, but these moments will be few and far between amid a sea of washed out snow filled landscapes and a seemingly endless series of bus rides. A noble effort, ultimately done in by lack of narrative cohesion.