FeistyUpper
If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
Curapedi
I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
Philippa
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Logan
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Dawna_Lee
I have a huge problem with the authenticity of this film.I understand that it tries to show the chauvinistic aspects of the so called "Balkan Syndrome", the painful and sometimes even violent quest for identity. I guess the movie really pushes a button here but its scale is horribly exaggerated and it creates a lie, a myth.Such a racist crime against Turkish citizens or any sort of tourists has never happened in Bulgaria. I haven't heard of anything like that in my whole life and I was born here.So what does this movie actually try to show? That Bulgarian thugs beat up Turkish tourists? Ridiculous, I think one can't be so careless and arbitrary when it comes to something so serious, in which more than one country is involved. I guess the story could have had much bigger effect if it showed the antagonisms between Neonazi gangs and Roma people 'cause these conflicts happen on a daily basis and are really fundamental in terms of racist crimes being committed in Bulgaria.
Boris Todorov
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.
truwarrior
I've read the other comments, and I will have to disappoint the Bulgarian audience, but this is not a work of a genius... maybe this movie is interesting and fresh in Bulgaria, but if you put it in perspective of contemporary East European cinema - it is not new, not fresh and I dare to say - it is not a good movie at all. It is painfully pretentious , non humorous, over-directed small boring movie. The cinematography is really bad, you actually don't see the faces of actors for at least half of the movie. And the shots, well, like from bad music MTV clips shot 20yrs ago. The actors are not bad ( RIP to main actor) - and only good part of the movie is relation between the Turkish girl and main guy. Everything else, well - bad as the rest of the movie. If I had to put it in one line: just skip it - overacted in overdirected boring movie
mgeorgieva2007
This is the most honest Bulgarian movie made in the last 20 years. Bravo Itso, Kamen and the rest of the team! It is a movie that resonates on the same wave as the contemporary BG people. It shows the heart...and the really important things in life - hope, love, tolerance, dialogue, the continuity between the generations and freedom - the choice to live your life as you want and to be its real master... Well, it is difficult for me to come up with 10 lines for this movie (as the guidelines indicate) since this is a movie that needs to be seen coz it is a movie to be felt...because it is simple and that's why it is a work of genius!!! It's absolutely worth seeing!