Went into this one pretty cold. All I knew was that it involved dance and that it was set in Russia or a former Soviet state.
The opening act introduced our characters as best as possible. It was clear to see their personalities and with the film involving a lot of teenagers, there was a pleasant cheeky side being shown by a lot of our younger characters.
After that, the coming-of-age side was being developed and while you could see where it was going, I felt the inclusion of the dance subplot kept it fresh and engaging.
The opening act introduced our characters as best as possible. It was clear to see their personalities and with the film involving a lot of teenagers, there was a pleasant cheeky side being shown by a lot of our younger characters.
After that, the coming-of-age side was being developed and while you could see where it was going, I felt the inclusion of the dance subplot kept it fresh and engaging.
The acting was great on whole, both from a physical and dialogue aspect.
With the film having a lot of intense dancing involved, all of the scenes that required dancing felt authentic and impressive to watch. From the conventional acting, lead Levan Gelbakhiani was terrific. He had a complete story arch, constantly engaging from his cheeky side, to overly sensitive moments and impressive in his dance. Also have to give props to Ana Javakishvili, Bachi Valishvili,
One under-rated aspect is the writing. It's not constant, but there was some nice back-and-forth moments of witty and clever put-downs which helped develop certain characters.
This isn't a major negative. But this type of romance drama has become more and more regular. So originality is key to stand out. In terms of the structure, it's nothing new. But I feel the backdrop and setting did enough to give it enough of a new approach.
In a nutshell, I could call this a mix of Whiplash (especially the final scene) and Call Me By Your Name. But that's not enough.
This is a deeply emotional coming-of-age film in more ways than one. The dancing scenes are very well executed. Plus, I liked a lot of the choices made in the camera work to enhance our main characters emotions.
With a lot of gay romance dramas being made in the past few years, this type of story has been done better. However, the different environment and part of the world it's set in gives it somewhat a refreshing look to give it some originality. That just about did enough for me to give it an exceptional rating.
Definitely worth checking out.
Rating: 8/10
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