On April 11, cinemas started showing the drama film «Rock Paper Grenade», which is the feature film debut of director Iryna Tsilyk. Its plot is based on the autobiographical novel by Artem Chekh «Who Are You? In the review below, we explain why contemporary Ukrainian cinema is actively reflecting on the era of the turbulent 90s and how well the current film does it.
Genre drama, coming-of-age
Director Iryna Tsilyk
Starring Yuriy Izdryk, Andriy Cherednyk, Vladyslav Balyuk, Anastasiya Karpenko, Halyna Veretelnyk-Stepanova, Andriy Isayenko, Oleksandra Semenko, Volodymyr Hladkyi
Premiere movie theaters
Year of issue 2022
Website IMDb
One day, young Timofey’s grandmother brings home a new boyfriend — a slightly strange old man named Felix. As it turns out later, he once fought in Afghanistan and now tries to soothe the pain of his crippled soul with a bottle. The boy’s mother clearly does not approve of the presence of an alcoholic with PTSD in the house, but Tymofii, given his father’s sporadic presence in his life, seems to find a common language with his grandmother’s new hobby.
Their self-reflection, which is reproduced in the stories, will definitely receive a sincere response from everyone whose youth was spent in the dark post-Soviet years. Despite the devastation that Ukraine inherited from the Soviets, there was happiness in those years, too, because the naive child’s view of the world refused to understand and see the miserability around them.
Of the last important Ukrainian prime ministers, Antonio Lukic (born in 1992) addressed the era of the 90s in a beautiful «Luxembourg, Luxembourg» and Philip Sotnychenko (born in 1989) in the post-Soviet noir «La Palisade». Now they have been joined by Iryna Tsilyk, who, although a bit older than her colleagues, also grew up and formed as a person in the 1990s.
The plot of her debut feature is based on the autobiographical novel «Who Are You?» by Artem Chekh — the husband of the talented director who won the Sundance» award for her documentary «The Earth Is Blue as an Orange» (2020). As confessed Iryna herself, it was decided before filming that «would not be based on a literary foundation, but rather would be based on the world of the characters and storylines. In the end, the film went in a slightly different direction than».
«Rock Paper Grenade» — an expressive coming-of-age story, in terms of genre — drama, with a greater emphasis on drama. The director skillfully builds the narrative against the backdrop of well-recognizable scenery and characters. Timofey and Felix seem to have absolutely nothing in common, but their quirky friendship evokes the most pleasant feelings.
Poverty makes it impossible for a boy to hope for his dream sneakers. And how can he look cool in the eyes of a dear girl from a wealthy family in these old worn-out shoes? Felix, on the other hand, is a long-crippled lonely soul who drowns his pain in a bottle, but feels the need to tell the kid something, spend time with him, and finally buy those damn shoes (which the local mob will take away anyway). The meeting between the characters is not so fateful, but it has a significant impact on both of them. Deprived of his father’s attention, Timothy finds in Felix a friend, a father, and perhaps a mentor.
At first glance, the uneventful plot does not seem to offer the viewer much excitement, but during the screening, all skepticism, if any, rapidly evaporates. And although this is primarily a movie about pain, there is also room for a light smile.
Ukrainian writer Yuriy Izdryk did an excellent job with his role, as did Vladyslav Balyuk, who played Timofey as a teenager. Their on-screen interaction is truly fascinating.
With great care, an era that has long since passed, but is by no means forgotten, is recreated here.
Everything in the frame suggests it: the bulky furniture, the TV «Electron», the cigarettes «Cosmos», the strange wallpaper, over which magazine posters with Schwarzenegger and Stallone are displayed on the wall in the young man’s room. The festive champagne, of course, is «Soviet», because what else could be on the table? The same Christmas ornaments on the tree. The incendiary Eurodance in their parents’ «Zhiguli». Outside the window, the boys are carefree, cutting into a square right on the asphalt, because there was no question of any artificial mini-fields.
In fact, anyone who is now 35-40 years old can easily recognize something of themselves in Tymofiy’s life. But Tsilyk’s film is not a trip back in time for the sake of sweet nostalgia or romanticizing the past. The film is intended to capture the challenges we all once had to face and how it affected us today. Hardened enough then to have the strength to live now.