UNIVERSAL ILLUSION OF HAPPINESS AND REAL PERSONAL HAPPINESS

In Georgian (and probably in any) society, public either lives according to traditionally established stereotypes, or asks others to live like that or – asks both together – themselves and others too. And the "violators" of the "universal" order either deserve to be scolded and reproached, or they are misunderstood and become objects of active (pseudo-liberal) teaching. Such methods of upbringing seem to have a non-severe, non-aggressive...

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KIND, RESTLESS THOUGHT IN A DOCUMENTARY PORTRAIT

Zurab Iobashvili's short documentary film, "Where the Moon Rises" (2021) is a form of documentary television portrait and reportage, in which the main hero is not only an action figure, but also a narrator. Television film has a great role in the history of Georgian cinema. Even now, offering new material to the audience often occurs according to these traditions, although the film, which should create a portrait, faces many challenges, providing Georgian documentary cinema technically and...

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FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH ADULTHOOD

What kind of feeling arises when we have to take the first serious step? It is nice and scary, causing keen interest at the same time as well as the feeling of pride that you are so big that can cope with being in the large house alone. You are able and you should care for the people around you. At this time, you seem to stand upright, gain height and self-confidence and realize that you are already an adult. Sandro Suladze's short feature film "The Watchers" (2021) is about the inexhaustible fantasy, wild imagination, ascetic ...

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THREAD THAT WILL BREAK SOONER OR LATER

Religious-philosophical ideas about destiny have always been the subject of judgment both in works of art and in philosophers’ thinking. According to Niccolò Machiavelli: "Fortune determines one half of our actions, but that, even so, it leaves us to control the other half or thereabouts." In mythology, fate plays an important role in disposing the lives of gods and mortals. It is impossible to have one true opinion on this. Actually, only destiny plays...

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THE ISLAND ON THE BORDER OF WAR AND PEACE

On a calm and peaceful spring morning, when nothing disturbs the comfort and a new bright day begins, the old peasant with a deep-wrinkled face, along with his grand-daughter in an old boat will approach the uninhabited small island in the river bed – the "no man's land." Upon coming ashore, the man tastes the soil, stirs it with his fingers and finds a mouthpiece buried in the mud. It is left by someone. Along with the household items, the girl brings a rag doll and places it with her other personal belongings. This is how Giorgi Ovashvili's second film of "Abkhaz Trilogy" "Corn Island" begins (2014, co-production of Georgia, ...

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ON KINDNESS, FAITH AND MIRACLES 

If we review Georgian cinema (and not only), the vast majority of films are created for the audience to have fun, to relax during the short period of time they are watching the screen and to stop thinking about reality. However, cinema is not only an entertainment but an educational means as well. No other genre of art has such a strong influence on shaping the artistic taste of youth as cinema does. As the most democratic public art, it has a strong power...

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A VIEW OF THE UNEXPECTED ENDING

No matter how many conditions of dramatic unexpectedness there are, no matter how many times we try to introduce an incredible twist in the usual, narrative rhythm of cinema, it will still be a reaction every time, depending on the meaning of the content of what happened, and not just a desire to ask the question "What happened?"... However, this question is the very first thing that embodies the reaction of the audience who is surprised and traumatized with unexpectedness. "10:45" (2021) – this is the title of Giorgi ...

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WHY DO CIVIL SERVANTS DIE?

One clerk (bureaucrat) suddenly sneezed while he was at an opera performance. The splashes reached an elderly bald man sitting in front of him. The clerk took it to heart much because he recognized the official and apologized to him many times. Then, he made a special visit and asked to forgive. The bored old man (who was not the clerk's immediate superior) finally answered rudely. The clerk suffered greatly from this situation and died "suddenly." This is the synopsis of Anton Chekhov's short and very famous story, “The Death ...

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FEAR TRANSFORMED INTO A LIVING CHARACTER

Documentary film directors and their interest are surely attracted to numerous disasters and misfortunes, uninvestigated cases that remained an unrecognized event. Quest for truth requires a completely different documentary style and narrative form and a film about an unknown disaster aims at seeing the result of imagination and reality. TV and movie viewers have become accustomed to the...

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FAMILY OBLIGATIONS

Senility with its inevitable hardships is an eternal topic that is touched upon quite often in the cinema and there are a number of cinematic masterpieces, which is why creating a new work on a similar topic is quite risky, even if the film is made well, the magnitude of the problem affects almost all viewers, therefore, it becomes more debatable. Tornike Bziava's film, "The...

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