The story revolves around two 14 year old girls, best friends growing up together in Georgia.
Although it's set in 1992, the time-line and history is merely a canvas for a tale of friendship and difficulties in a flawed culture and society.
We witness the hardships the two girls have to go through and negative or positive emotional bonds they have with friends/schoolmates/family.
There's not much dramatization or cheesy drama going on, since the narrative is documentary-style realism à-la "A Separation". I have to applaud the two young actresses for more-or-less carrying the whole story on their shoulders, with success. Not that the other actors are bad, they all contribute to the authentic atmosphere.
It's also hard to ignore the setting, the homes and streets that reek of post communist decay. This felt personal to me, having grown up in an "fresh" democratic Romania, where the circumstances were similar, even if not the same.
I can totally recommend "In Bloom" to anyone interested in a good story. This is no Hollywood moneymaker, but I also disagree with another reviewer writing that it's hard to understand for non-Georgians. Cinema is universal.
Although it's set in 1992, the time-line and history is merely a canvas for a tale of friendship and difficulties in a flawed culture and society.
We witness the hardships the two girls have to go through and negative or positive emotional bonds they have with friends/schoolmates/family.
There's not much dramatization or cheesy drama going on, since the narrative is documentary-style realism à-la "A Separation". I have to applaud the two young actresses for more-or-less carrying the whole story on their shoulders, with success. Not that the other actors are bad, they all contribute to the authentic atmosphere.
It's also hard to ignore the setting, the homes and streets that reek of post communist decay. This felt personal to me, having grown up in an "fresh" democratic Romania, where the circumstances were similar, even if not the same.
I can totally recommend "In Bloom" to anyone interested in a good story. This is no Hollywood moneymaker, but I also disagree with another reviewer writing that it's hard to understand for non-Georgians. Cinema is universal.