Starring Tristan Halilaj, Sindi Lacej
Directed by Joshua Marston
Despite the fact it hinges on family feuds and blood debts, Joshua Marstons Albanian-set drama offers very little in terms of on-screen violence. However, the threat of brutality never abates, lending the proceedings unrelenting tension and dread.
Seated in a pub, teenaged Nik (Tristan Halilaj) watches his father Mark (Refet Abazi) and a neighbour exchange barbs that scarcely conceal their contempt for one another. When an offscreen showdown culminates with the neighbours death, Mark flees, leaving Nik and his sister Rudina (Sindi Lacej) to weather the opposing familys reprisals. While Nik is confined to their home for fear that hell be executed, Rudina assumes responsibility of Marks bread delivery route, exposing her to constant intimidation.
The early scenes of Marstons film illustrate that, while upholding his familial responsibilities, Nik also harbours aspirations of his. Consequently, its all the more painful to see the forward-thinking teenager constrained by archaic customs that dictate an entire family must be persecuted for one members transgressions. Marston subtlety depicts the toll that isolation takes on him, whether hes seen compulsively picking at a crack in a wall or constructing a fortified brick gym atop their home. The slapdash construction project bulges like a tumour, symbolizing the cancerous state of affairs.
Niks journey isnt so much a coming-of-age as an arriving-at-a-realization. Where once he believed that he inhabited a world of endless opportunities, hes ultimately left to accept that its actually an existence of ultimatums. Backed into a corner by his circumstances, Nik must consider actions that are unconscionable, yet completely understandable. Rest assured, the outcome is suitably tragic. Curtis Woloschuk
