BERLIN: Georgian director Zaza Rusadze’s A Fold in My Blanket opened the Panorama section of the Berlinale with one of the new crop of interesting films now coming out of Georgia.
The film is a directorial debut and is one of the first fruits of the new general of talent that has been nurtured by the Georgian National Film Centre.
A Fold in My Blanket gives us a view of the stifling atmosphere of a small Georgian town and at the same time the light touch of Georgian imagination. It hovers between genres without ever settling into any single category.
Dimitrij played by Tornike Bziava is an aimless young man who escapes the stifling family life and his monotonous work at the local court house by going off on mountain climbing expeditions.
Rusadze presents us with a group of interesting and eccentric characters. At home we meet his parents, his aunt Irina who has Alzheimer’s, and the elderly doctor Alexander.
His father, a judge, presides over the courthouse where he works and over the family in the same despotic way.
In the small town the odd assortment of characters spend their time eating cakes, listening to arias and pouring forth strange monologues. Dimitrij’s only emotional escape is his mountain climbing where the freedom of the open spaces contrasts with the oppressive closed spaces of his home and work.
Then one day Dimitrij meets a stranger name Andrei and their increasingly close relationship forms an emotional release that his home and the small town lack. We are often unsure how much of what we see is in Dimitrij’s mind and how much is “real.”
The Soviet-retro world Dimitrij inhabits and its surreal characters and situations make this a film that is both connected to the tradition of Georgian cinema and at the same time very much a part of contemporary European art cinema. While at times perplexing it nonetheless remains intriguing throughout its 70 minutes.
Director: Zaza Rusadze
Georgia 2013
Cast: Tornike Bziava, Tornike Gogrichiani, Zura Kipshidze, Avtandil Makharadze, Giorgi Nakashidze
Production: Produced by Zazarfilm
Supported by Georgian National Film Center
