In Bloom (Nana Ekvtimishvili & Simon Grob 2013): Georgia

Reviewed by Lisa Walters. Viewed at AFI Film Festival 2013

In Bloom is a gritty, realistic film, based on the memoirs of director Nana Ekvtimishvili, of growing up in post-Soviet Georgia. At first all we know is that Eka, a poor, beautiful, black haired girl, with dirt under her nails is in a very dysfunctional family. Her father sitting at the dinner table, yelling “WHAT?? NO ONE LIKES ME NOW?” While the table of women ignore him, would be funny if it werent followed by violent fights between the parents. We follow Eka to school, only to find that her Draconian teacher is almost as bad as her father. When her best friend Natia is given a hand gun to protect her, you know its not going to be a happy tale of redemption. Bullys start coming from all directions, giving Natia and Eka ample opportunity to use that gun theyve been taking turns holding. (One scene you see them walking, and Eka simply says “my turn”, as Natia hands her the gun. Its sad and funny.) I believe this film accuratley portrays what life is like in Georgia, a country I didn’t believe exsisted until I saw it on a map online. My question is usually, “if its an accurate portrayal of a depressing, dark life, why do I want to experience it?” And usually I can answer that there is redeeming value in seeing the other side of life, and some stories can only be told in the way they unfolded, without the sugar coating of Hollywood spin. The flash of anger in protagonist Eka’s black eyes is piercing in every scene. She makes this movie more watchable because it’s not a coming of age story, but you really want it to be. Anything other than this tragic, dark, story would feel better. But sometimes that’s not the real story, and In Bloom is faithful to being real, if only to take you down a dark road and leave you there.