Minneapolis Star Tribune , MN
Feb 24 2005

Movie review: ‘Vodka Lemon’ serves up yearning and hardship

Leisurely to a fault but emotionally generous, “Vodka Lemon” shows us
a season in the life of an icebound Armenian village and the economic
and emotional travails of several locals. Objectively, it’s a sad
story of yearning and hardship, but it’s structured and performed
like a comedy. As life is.

Hamo, a rugged old veteran, puts the best face on events as he talks
to his late wife’s headstone. He’s supplementing his skimpy pension
by selling off their possessions, and there’s not much left but the
wallpaper. Romen Avinian, who plays the part, bears a striking
resemblance to Omar Sharif and shares that actor’s aura of
unassailable dignity even in advanced age. Iraqi-Kurdish
director-writer Hiner Saleem uses that quality to stage some physical
comedy that would otherwise feel cruel.

A scene from “Vodka Lemon”Minnesota Film ArOn a visit to the
graveyard, Hamo crosses paths with Nina (Lala Sarkissian), a pretty
widow who works in the Vodka Lemon liquor store. (“Why is it called
Vodka Lemon when it tastes like almonds?” a patron asks. “That’s
Armenia,” she shrugs.) Nina is a decade younger than the courtly Hamo
but in equally dire straits. Saleem is in no rush to pair them up,
and their gradual realization that they might be good company for
each other proceeds as gradually as winter giving way to spring.

Vodka Lemon

*** out of four stars

Unrated; brief violence and adult themes. In Kurdish, Russian and
Armenian, subtitled.

Colin Covert