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Since Otar Left (2004)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 53
Fresh: 52
Rotten:1
Average Rating: 7.9/10
Consensus: A drama that's both funny and moving.
Theatrical Release:Apr 9, 2004 Limited
Box Office: $220,305
Synopsis: The crumbling squalor of former USSR city Tibilisi, Georgia, is the setting for a tale of three generations of Soviet women. Elder matriarch Eka (Esther Gorintin) lives for the letters from her... The crumbling squalor of former USSR city Tibilisi, Georgia, is the setting for a tale of three generations of Soviet women. Elder matriarch Eka (Esther Gorintin) lives for the letters from her beloved son Otar, who fled to Paris years ago as an illegal immigrant. Her daughter Marina (Nino Khomassourioze) strains under the pressures of their miserable existence in the now "free" country where the electricity and water work only sporadically and the buildings seem as depressed as the people. She loves her mother, though, and when news arrives of Otar's sudden death she asks her own daughter (Dinara Drukarova) to keep writing the letters so as not to break Eka's heart. The plot thickens when Eka decides to spend their life savings on three tickets to Paris so they can track down her beloved Otar. Director Julie Bertucelli previously worked as an assistant director to Krzystof Kieslowski (RED, WHITE, and BLUE trilogy) and she has inherited his genius for lighting, composition, and ability to find beauty in the most squalid domestic settings. The excellent cast conveys much with minimal dialogue, making this register far more deeply than as a mere allegory of a country coming to terms with its past lies and failures. It won the 2003 Critic's Week Grand Prize at Cannes. [More]
Starring: Esther Gorintin, Dinara Droukarova, Nino Khomassouridze, Temour Kalandadze
Starring: Esther Gorintin, Dinara Droukarova, Nino Khomassouridze, Temour Kalandadze, Roussoudan Bolkvadze, Sacha Sarichvili, Douta Skhirtladze
Director: Julie Bertuccelli
Director: Julie Bertuccelli
Screenwriter: Julie Bertuccelli, Bernard Renucci
Studio: Zeitgeist Films
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Reviews for Since Otar Left
La principal fortaleza del film, además de la atenta mirada y la sensibilidad de Bertuccelli, es ese impecable trío de actrices.
Bertuccelli neatly unpacks these three women’s burdened lives and leaves us with a haunting souvenir—the last scene is a shimmering revelation.
Bertuccelli convinces us of her capability of sketching portraits of incredible characters that are credible.
Bertuccelli tackles Since Otar Left... with the kind of ambitious imagination that makes one marvel at a natural filmmaker's unexpected and original choices.
The finely crafted film shows the complex needs and anxieties of a three-generation family living in a country that has undergone dramatic political and cultural changes.
This emotionally rich situation is played for all its worth by the entire cast, but the standout is Gorintin.
You feel like you're watching a real family traipse through an uncertain world instead of actors creating relationships on the spot.
It is a film that understands women, but more importantly, understands life.
Otar and Lenin make terrific bookends on the post-communist experience for average citizens.
Whatever film acting is about -- technique, presence or truth-telling -- [Esther Gorintin] got it.
If you want a film whose ending is happy and sad at the same time look no further.
It feels very real, as if the filmmakers have recorded some actual real-life moments.
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