In a yard under a tree in the city of Batumi, a coastal resort on the Black Sea, neighbours gather around a table as numbers are called out in their favoured game of chance. It’s a way to pass the time and challenge fickle fate, and a rare stroke of luck is the only way to beat the grind. Drawing Lots, which has its world premiere in the Big Screen Competition at Rotterdam, is the fifth feature of the late Zaza Khalvashi, a Georgian filmmaker whose previous work includes the haunting and evocative Namme (2017), about a daughter guarding a healing water against corporate interests. The mysteries of Drawing Lots are more prosaic and worldly.
Writer-director Khalvashi passed away in 2020 before he could see the film fully finished, adding another twist of sadness to its vision of a universe prone to throw a proverbial joker in at inopportune moments to disrupt dreams and best-laid plans. His daughter Tamta Khalvashi stepped in to lead the project to completion posthumously, sharing co-director credit. The result is a snapshot, in a minor key of deadpan humour and gentle melancholy, of a disorderly seaside community where love and crime are irresistible compulsions bearing scant rewards. The film, elegantly lensed in a black-and-white that offsets lives of chaos and indignity, should have no trouble picking up festival slots due to its appealing wry wit and gentle, downbeat humanity.
The camera pans over the rooftops of Batumi, and a neighbourhood in which not much seems to ever work out for the residents in their intertwining lives. An air of regret and stoicism over the absurdities of existence prevails. Batumi may be Georgia’s gambling capital, but the locals we encounter here, with their modest trappings and petty squabbles, are not the high-rollers that flash cash around casinos on weekend-tripping jaunts. Passion has long since soured for one older man, cantankerous and shouting demands in his dressing gown, to the beleaguered woman who is cooking for him. And love comes no easier for the young. The infatuated Zuriko (Nika Zoidze) pursues a crush on his glamorous, much older neighbour, whose partner is abusive and controlling. She sees him as just the kid that he is, but treasures a sweet moment out of time to feel appreciated, as they take a trip to the sea (borrowing a stretch limo he can only fantasise about ever owning). Unrequited love for him, though, feels like the end of the world, and when he disappears mysteriously, it shocks the community.
The most developed storyline involves returning jailbird Gaga (Levan Tedoradze), who turns up in unwelcome and threatening manner after a long imprisonment at the home of Rita (Marian Bltsadze), a woman whose father he had shared a cell with while doing time after a robbery. Now, he expects to recover the money as a debt for his lost years, if only he can extract the secret from her of where it is hidden. Meanwhile, a concert violinist confronts a mid-life crisis, and an amateur electric guitarist unleashes his discontent on his balcony patio. Everywhere, depths of emotion hover like jaded ghosts, allied with tragedy or weariness after not finding an appreciative home or fertile place to grow.Idiosyncrasy of personality is to the foreground in this colourful cast of amateurs, performing alongside actors from the Batumi Theatre. There is no vicious sting in the tail here in a film driven by an affection for its characters. For in a hard-luck world, who could blame their antagonistic edges and extreme gestures? As a wedding draws near, it seems there is always that tiny spark of hope, for this ragtag assortment to play on, despite it all.
Directors: Zaza Khalvashi, Tamta Khalvasi
Screenwriter: Zaza Khalvashi
Cast: Inga Jakhutashvili, Guladi Goguadze, Leila Bibineishvili, Anri Mutidze, Omar Beridze
Producers: Sulkhan Turmanidze, Ieva Norviliene, Tekla Machavariani
Cinematography: Giorgi Shvelidze
Editing: Levan Kukhashvili
Music: Minco Eggersman
Sound Design: Jonas Maksvytis
Production companies: BAFIS (Georgia); Tremora (Lithuania), Nushi Film (Georgia)
World sales: EastWest Filmdistribution
Venue: International Film Festival Rotterdam (Big Screen competitiion)
In Georgian
84 minutes
