But frankly, I wished to be pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately, I saw a badly stitched up plot with muplitple elements picked up from Western movies and pickled to banality in the Bulgarian context. Frankly, by watching the mises en scènes, you'd think Bulgarian kids in communism were dressed like Parisian kids today and Bulgarian advertisers work in London. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. The character of Bilyana lacks any realism, depth and development and the main plot line featuring her character was completely improbable with her as she was portrayed. The only redeeming feature was Kalin's character who seemed genuinely in the grips of emotion whilst reconsidering his life. Overall, the movie could have been so much better with a healthy dose of realism and skilful character writing for Bilyana.
Review of Bubblegum
