Eastern Plays (2009)

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

I have a huge problem with the authenticity of this film.I understand that it tries to show the chauvinistic aspects of the so called "Balkan Syndrome", the painful and sometimes even violent quest for identity. I guess the movie really pushes a button here but its scale is horribly exaggerated and it creates a lie, a myth.Such a racist crime against Turkish citizens or any sort of tourists has never happened in Bulgaria. I haven't heard of anything like that in my whole life and I was born here.So what does this movie actually try to show? That Bulgarian thugs beat up Turkish tourists? Ridiculous, I think one can't be so careless and arbitrary when it comes to something so serious, in which more than one country is involved. I guess the story could have had much bigger effect if it showed the antagonisms between Neonazi gangs and Roma people 'cause these conflicts happen on a daily basis and are really fundamental in terms of racist crimes being committed in Bulgaria.

This is the most important Bulgarian movie for the past 20 years. I highly recommend it for everyone who have never watched anything from this country. The acting is honest and breathtaking. The story is simple and so real, that can make you cry. The cinematography work is very stylish and keeps you close to the characters from the beginning to the end. Eastern Plays is an absolutely stunning piece of filmmaking. This is the movie that Bulgaria needed for so many years and for so many reasons. I am sure that such a film can be made just once in a generation. When i've watched it for the first time, i was deeply moved and shocked, because i knew that the movie will be good, but i've never expected something so strong and real. If i have to be honest i have lost hope that people in Bulgaria have the courage and will to talk so direct for such important subjects as drugs, racism and the broken bond between contemporary Bulgarian generations. Especially the filmmakers. And that's why i think this movie appears in a very important moment not just for the Bulgarian film industry, but for the Bulgarian society at all.

Just watched Eastern Plays.. Guys this movie is s*it! I hate to say it with respect to Christo Christov(God rest his soul) whose performance was maybe the only good thing about the movie. I am so tired of all those "intellectual wanna-be" Bulgarian movies, that are made to be understood only by the author and need at least half an hour explanation. It is enough to read the synopsis, don't waste time to watch the whole thing. The original concept is good, so I cant believe the director was so bad that he couldn't manage to develop it. It was hard for me to watch it till the end and I was skipping through the numerous times when nothing was happening, which was half of the movie!!!.. And don't you dare to tell me I didn't understand it, it is true, I did not. There was nothing in this movie that will make me use my brain to understand the concept of it. It was the same pointless depressing reel that we're so used to watch("Shivachki"). The soundtrack was good (Nasekomix), but it wasn't well used. After watching "The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner" and "Zift", I thought there's still a future for Bulgarian cinema.. but honestly Eastern Plays brought me back to the reality. I will still however see Mission London. Wish me luck on this one =D Overall, if I could give this movie less than a star, I would've. I think that eastern European nationalism(which apparently the movie should be condemning) created this whole euphoria in Bulgaria over the movie, which I understand, but I don't think it's an actual reason to give a higher score for this movie. Still.. Rest In Peace Christo Christov

It has been quite some time since a film genuinely moved me. This past week or so, I have sat through and enjoyed, to varying degrees, Scorsese's Shutter Island and Polanski's The Ghost Writer. Both were polished, well-made, clever films (the latter perhaps slightly more than the former), but I will soon forget them. I don't think I'm going to forget Eastern Plays anytime soon. This Bulgarian film by Kamen Kalev is, well - why beat around the bush ? - a great work of art. Superbly shot in a Sofia filled with graffiti-covered buildings and vacant lots, Eastern Plays tells the story of Itso, an addict on methadone who has to drink beer more or less constantly to dull his pain. Quite by chance, he intervenes when a family of Turkish tourists gets attacked and beaten by a gang of Neo-Fascist thugs (led by a terrifying Alexander "The Indian" Radanov). This gradually leads to a relationship between Itso and the breathtakingly beautiful Isil (Saadet Isil Askoy), whose innocent, optimistic spirituality gradually begins to lift Itso out of the painful doldrums of his beery existence. I don't know what to praise most about this film : its portrayal of a modern Bulgaria adrift between racist youth gangs and football hooligans, the parents completely out of touch with the world of their children ; the incredibly true-to-life performance by Christo Christov, who died of an overdose before the film was finished shooting ? I think finally it is the luminous presence of Saadet Isil Askoy, who brings a sincerity and optimism to the film's grim context, as she tells Itso that we are all living in a time where people are sick inside, but that she feels a change is coming. This is not just a film about contemporary Bulgaria, although it is that as well. It is a film that captures a certain Zeitgeist of the early 21st century, in which, especially in post-Communist Eastern Europe, a restless youth with nothing more to believe in attempts to fill the gap inside them as best they can : with drugs, alcohol, headbanger rock, neo-fascist thuggery, or, in a few precious, fragile cases, with art and music. I have not recently seen a more deeply moving scene in a film than the one is which a desperate Itso consults his psychiatrist : all he wants to do, he says, is find the goodness within himself. He wishes he could radiate light like a crystal, and love all human beings, but he does not know how.