I saw this movie out of morbid curiosity. The lead actor, Christo Christov-- hailed for his performance as the artistic older brother of a student involved with a neo-nazi gang, died shortly after filming ended. I had heard that Christov did a spectacular job capturing the character of Itso, a young artist battling addiction. Christov’s apartment and some of his artwork were even used in the movie. I could not help but wonder if Christov met his demise in a similar way to his character Itso-- going through heaps of methadone daily, drinking and smoking constantly.
The movie opens with Itso’s younger brother, Georgi (Ovanes Torosian), joining up with a neo-nazi gang in Sofia, Bulgaria--home to post-communist development, showing poverty and drug addiction. When Georgi’s gang brutally beats a Turkish family visiting Bulgaria on vacation, Itso (who coincidentally happens upon the street during the attack) diverts the gang and calls an ambulance, saving the Turkish family’s life.
Itso visits the family in the hospital and begins a star-crossed romance with the impossibly beautiful Turkish daughter, Isil (Saadet Aksoy). He also visits his own family the following day and tries to get inside his younger brother’s head. Can Itso convince his brother to give up the gang? Will his romance with Isil continue? Up until now, the film moves at a great pace and has a truly exciting premise.
However, after this part of the film, it becomes very, very slow-- at times, even painful. There are labored conversations in a bar between Itso and Isil spoken in broken English so horribly slow and stilted that it appears to be unscripted. There are cinematically beautiful scenes that look nice but do nothing to move the story along. Itso’s Bulgarian girlfriend sticks around through such unacceptably misogynistic behavior (including being introduced as “sex” instead of her name) it detracts from Itso’s romantic status. Georgi’s run-ins with gangsters don’t seem to develop the plot. Even Christov's performance, in all its premortem splendor, couldn't save the disjointed story line. The most exciting event happened at the beginning of the movie. And I like my climax to come close to the end.
I do think there is room for artistic, non-Hollywood formula films in this world. This move won Grand Prix awards at both the Tokyo Film Festival and the Warsaw International Film Festival, but maybe international audiences are more forgiving. I was not upset I spent money on this, but I would not recommend you do so. I suggest watching the first half and fast-forwarding to the end, or if you are really craving Bulgarian culture, “Crayfish,” another festival favorite, is probably a better bet.
