This is an older, lesser known film from director Hiner Saleem.
The film is nothing but collection of wasted opportunities. Armenia, which had Armenians, Kurds, Azeris, Russians and, to a lesser extent, people from all over the USSR. You have so much going on - Communism, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Nagorno-Karabakh War, the new governments and new states and you had Kurds in the middle of all this in one way or another.
But this film doesn't focus on all these things. It barely uses them in the background.
The location and the time period are tools to tell a story. Instead, they're used just as a backdrop.
A widower goes to his wife's grave to talk to his dead wife. There's a lot of snow. A lot of poverty. He sells things several times, usually furniture, at flea markets or at flea market prices to random people he meets on his way. His son is not doing better abroad and asks his father for help. The widower meets a woman at the graveyard.
As others have said - there is nothing particularly Kurdish about this film. There is nothing particularly particular about this film. It could've been a film set in Latvia, Kazakhstan, Belarus or any of the former Soviet republics. It could've been set in Serbia, Romania or Poland. The same character can have the same story without any difference.
It's not due to the universality of the story, but due to a lack of story. A man talking to his dead wife and selling his furniture in a flea market is not a unique experience.
But one has to wonder - why make this film? Why is this film, produced in 2003, set soon after the fall of the Soviet Union? If the director wanted snow, he could've gone to any part of Kurdistan. A Time for Drunken Horses has similar themes - a child lugging things through the snow out of poverty. This film swaps child for old man, but the story is still essentially lugging stuff to sell through the snow out of poverty. In Drunken Horses we have an orphan, in Vodka Lemon we have a widower. Both feature a marriage.
This film has nothing unique to say about the Soviet Kurds, the Yazidis, Kurds in general or anything at all.
The film is wrongly labelled here "comedy" but there is nothing comedic about it. It is closer to tragedy than a comedy, but it's too slow to be tragic. It's a slow film where nothing happens. There is no plot in this film, so don't expect there to be an ending.
The acting is average, not exceptional, but I can't blame the actors for the script. The cinematography is average. Yes, the country is beautiful but you don't get points for filming pretty subjects. The camera work is average. There is no score that I recall. The use of music is sparse.
This is a film that is made to be liked by foreign viewers. This is not something Kurds enjoy watching. In this case, both would be in agreement. Very, very few people would enjoy something like this. I acknowledge that some people like incredibly slow films. It currently has 6.8/10 on IMDb, but it gets its relatively high vote from its niche audience. Most people would watch this film, would be turned off by the trailer or would not be able to finish the film.
A Time for Drunken Horses is a better version of this film, by another director. My Sweet Pepper Land is a better effort from this director.
The film is nothing but collection of wasted opportunities. Armenia, which had Armenians, Kurds, Azeris, Russians and, to a lesser extent, people from all over the USSR. You have so much going on - Communism, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Nagorno-Karabakh War, the new governments and new states and you had Kurds in the middle of all this in one way or another.
But this film doesn't focus on all these things. It barely uses them in the background.
The location and the time period are tools to tell a story. Instead, they're used just as a backdrop.
A widower goes to his wife's grave to talk to his dead wife. There's a lot of snow. A lot of poverty. He sells things several times, usually furniture, at flea markets or at flea market prices to random people he meets on his way. His son is not doing better abroad and asks his father for help. The widower meets a woman at the graveyard.
As others have said - there is nothing particularly Kurdish about this film. There is nothing particularly particular about this film. It could've been a film set in Latvia, Kazakhstan, Belarus or any of the former Soviet republics. It could've been set in Serbia, Romania or Poland. The same character can have the same story without any difference.
It's not due to the universality of the story, but due to a lack of story. A man talking to his dead wife and selling his furniture in a flea market is not a unique experience.
But one has to wonder - why make this film? Why is this film, produced in 2003, set soon after the fall of the Soviet Union? If the director wanted snow, he could've gone to any part of Kurdistan. A Time for Drunken Horses has similar themes - a child lugging things through the snow out of poverty. This film swaps child for old man, but the story is still essentially lugging stuff to sell through the snow out of poverty. In Drunken Horses we have an orphan, in Vodka Lemon we have a widower. Both feature a marriage.
This film has nothing unique to say about the Soviet Kurds, the Yazidis, Kurds in general or anything at all.
The film is wrongly labelled here "comedy" but there is nothing comedic about it. It is closer to tragedy than a comedy, but it's too slow to be tragic. It's a slow film where nothing happens. There is no plot in this film, so don't expect there to be an ending.
The acting is average, not exceptional, but I can't blame the actors for the script. The cinematography is average. Yes, the country is beautiful but you don't get points for filming pretty subjects. The camera work is average. There is no score that I recall. The use of music is sparse.
This is a film that is made to be liked by foreign viewers. This is not something Kurds enjoy watching. In this case, both would be in agreement. Very, very few people would enjoy something like this. I acknowledge that some people like incredibly slow films. It currently has 6.8/10 on IMDb, but it gets its relatively high vote from its niche audience. Most people would watch this film, would be turned off by the trailer or would not be able to finish the film.
A Time for Drunken Horses is a better version of this film, by another director. My Sweet Pepper Land is a better effort from this director.