It is not a movie that induces you to like the main character from the beginning, and you wonder many times whether Andrej has any common-sense capability of judgement in discerning between right and wrong, good and bad. While in the first minutes you get struck by the coldness and maybe meanness showed by Andrej's mother, you can't help think that he is a lazy lad, interested only in parties, and with criminal tendencies and no sense of responsibility, and that he probably deserves all which he's going through; but you also wonder why he has grown like that: can his parents be really devoid of responsibilities in what their son is at present?
The "centre" reality is quite what you expect: a place of mutual violences among the "guests", but it is also appalling the totally lack of autority in those who are supposed to rule the centre, but who can't at all, with their gentle manners, gain the respect of the most violent (we can say, the most dangerous) among them.
Andrej's wilful involvment in Zhele's traffics makes you feel that there is no hope for Andrej's redemption. Meanwhile, however, you got affectionate with the main character and you begin to understand that Andrej has a strong partiality for Zhele and that, perhaps, it's for love that he follows the "bad guy" in his oppressions and thefts. Actually you get so involved in Andrej's feelings that you start throwing away any moral sense (which begins to be a burden, given the continuous injustices and infamies done by Andrej for Zhele's sake, above all the infamous treatment Andrej uses with his roommate, who had always been kind towards him) and just hope what he hopes: that his love is returned, even if the beloved really seems to have no goodness at all.
The scene when Zhele talks to Andrej about going to Amsterdam together, which contains possibly the only really sweet moment (there are other kisses in the movie, but none of them is really more than either merely lusty or induced by alcohol and drugs), marks the zenith of the romantic fancies and it's perfect to put you at the right height for the final quick fall. When Andrej visits Zhele, saying he was there just "to see him", you have the very last moment of warmness; Zhele's reaction stops everything, and sudden Andrej shows some moral sense, finally, and you get back yours just in time to feel all the wickednesses of the ending.
Andrej's outing on the social media is one of the part the very sly revenge by Zhele, but mates' teasings are nothing compared to the telephonic reaction of Andrej's mother, who finally shows with no doubt who she really is (quite an insensitive and hard-hearted person); Andrej's two (and I say two) tears are impeccable, and his "I am what I am" is quite moving. By the way, it is highly noticeable that the mother was always harsh about her son's bad behaviours, but the only thing she is not disposed to forgive at all (so that she basically rejects him as a son) is his being homosexual (which, unlike all the other things, was not a choice, and therefore not a guilt).
The revenge on Zhele (alas it is not clear whether he got just hurt or killed, but I'm speaking as if it were the former case) really appears the only possible form of justice Andrej could try to obtain, and maybe also the only language Zhele may understand as a punishment for his abuses, if he ever is capable of repentance.
The movie is well acted and quite plausible in depicting situations and dealings. It is not a happy movie at all, but it is not so violent as one may expect (it strucks you more by showing degredations and meannesses than through heavy violence). I don't think it has many clichés: indeed when Andrey put the hands in Zhele's trousers I dreaded a very tough beating up, but unespectedly things took another turn. Of course you know somehow from the beginning that things will end up badly, but you really don't know how and the plot is not so predictable.
The "centre" reality is quite what you expect: a place of mutual violences among the "guests", but it is also appalling the totally lack of autority in those who are supposed to rule the centre, but who can't at all, with their gentle manners, gain the respect of the most violent (we can say, the most dangerous) among them.
Andrej's wilful involvment in Zhele's traffics makes you feel that there is no hope for Andrej's redemption. Meanwhile, however, you got affectionate with the main character and you begin to understand that Andrej has a strong partiality for Zhele and that, perhaps, it's for love that he follows the "bad guy" in his oppressions and thefts. Actually you get so involved in Andrej's feelings that you start throwing away any moral sense (which begins to be a burden, given the continuous injustices and infamies done by Andrej for Zhele's sake, above all the infamous treatment Andrej uses with his roommate, who had always been kind towards him) and just hope what he hopes: that his love is returned, even if the beloved really seems to have no goodness at all.
The scene when Zhele talks to Andrej about going to Amsterdam together, which contains possibly the only really sweet moment (there are other kisses in the movie, but none of them is really more than either merely lusty or induced by alcohol and drugs), marks the zenith of the romantic fancies and it's perfect to put you at the right height for the final quick fall. When Andrej visits Zhele, saying he was there just "to see him", you have the very last moment of warmness; Zhele's reaction stops everything, and sudden Andrej shows some moral sense, finally, and you get back yours just in time to feel all the wickednesses of the ending.
Andrej's outing on the social media is one of the part the very sly revenge by Zhele, but mates' teasings are nothing compared to the telephonic reaction of Andrej's mother, who finally shows with no doubt who she really is (quite an insensitive and hard-hearted person); Andrej's two (and I say two) tears are impeccable, and his "I am what I am" is quite moving. By the way, it is highly noticeable that the mother was always harsh about her son's bad behaviours, but the only thing she is not disposed to forgive at all (so that she basically rejects him as a son) is his being homosexual (which, unlike all the other things, was not a choice, and therefore not a guilt).
The revenge on Zhele (alas it is not clear whether he got just hurt or killed, but I'm speaking as if it were the former case) really appears the only possible form of justice Andrej could try to obtain, and maybe also the only language Zhele may understand as a punishment for his abuses, if he ever is capable of repentance.
The movie is well acted and quite plausible in depicting situations and dealings. It is not a happy movie at all, but it is not so violent as one may expect (it strucks you more by showing degredations and meannesses than through heavy violence). I don't think it has many clichés: indeed when Andrey put the hands in Zhele's trousers I dreaded a very tough beating up, but unespectedly things took another turn. Of course you know somehow from the beginning that things will end up badly, but you really don't know how and the plot is not so predictable.
