Vodka Lemon to be Screened in Los Angeles
LAEMMLE THEATRES Weekly Newsletter
11/17/2004
Schedule & Showtimes for Week of 11/19 through 11/25
New Films Opening 11/19
Vodka Lemon: starts FRIDAY at the FAIRFAX 3 & ONE COLORADO
In the snowy badlands of post soviet Armenia, village life is nearing
subsistence level. The Russians have long departed (along with their
subsidies), and almost all of the villages young men have gone abroad
for work. In the heart of sixtysomething year old Hamo, a handsome
widower living with his alcoholic oldest son and his beautiful
granddaughter, hope rests through his youngest son, who has recently
immigrated to France in search of work. Hamo’s sole possessions on earth
– seven dollars a month for military pension, an old armoire, a broken
soviet television set and his military suit – are barely enough to
sustain him, leaving the grizzled patriarch to spend his days awaiting
word – and money – from Paris. Biding time, Hamo finds contentment through
his daily bus trips to the local cemetery where his wife has been laid
to rest. It’s during one of these visits that Hamo notices Nina, a
beautiful fifty-year old widow who, like Hamo, is struggling to survive
the harsh conditions of life in the village following the loss of her
husband. Although an initial attraction between the two is clear, Hamo’s
loyalty to his dead wife and Nina’s shyness forestalls the two from
allowing the sparks to fly. Nina retreats to her job at the desolate
village bar, Vodka Lemon, and Hamo hustles home with hope waning that
his son in Paris has mailed him. The letter does in fact arrive but the
money Hamo is so desperate for isn’t included. Retreating back to the
cemetery, Hamo once again runs into Nina and with a few kind gestures
the two begin a September-December romance that will lead to the film’s
indelible conclusion: a Chagall-like vision of love among the ruins.
“A little gem that takes a potentially grim subject and mines it for
maximum humor and insight.” — David Stratton, VARIETY
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress