Vodka Lemon

My father went to see the film Vodka Lemon (2003) in London last week. I hadn't heard about it, or at least it hasn't reached Tokyo yet.

Apart from the fact that this film is set in a small village in the mountains of Armenia, what caught my attention is that it was directed by Hiner Saleem, an exiled Iraqi Kurd. Of the three films I can find to his credit, another (
Passeurs De Reves) has an Armenian connection, although this film is ostensibly about a young Kurdish couple fleeing their homeland.

Popmatters.com gives Vodka Lemon a glowing review:

In Vodka Lemon's bleakest surroundings, there is a poetry so peculiar it's almost perverse. Beauty is here, in the depths of snowy, post-Soviet Armenia, in the rooftops of a desolate, frozen village peeking from snowdrifts, in a wretched room's dirty corners, in the heartfelt warblings of a local bus driver. And humor, likewise, is here, tempered, though, with the overwhelming heartbreak of poverty and loss.

The New York Times goes even further:

"Vodka Lemon" just might be the world's iciest postcard film: you will never be so happy to sit inside a cozy, theater as when you watch the actors exhaling clouds of warm breath over the blindingly white expanse.

I'll be on the lookout for this film.

Posted by Matt on December 13, 2004 | TrackBack | Email to a friend