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Tangerines Movie Review

Tangerines is a 2013 Georgian-Estonian drama film directed by Zaza Urushadze. It was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars and it’s quite strong.

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“I thought it would explode.

It explodes in the cinema.

Ah, the cinema is one big fraud“

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The story follows Ivo, an old man who finds two wounded men and takes them in the house and forbids them to fight which they want because they are from the opposing sides. It is a solid, if typical and seen countless times plot. But what makes it very enjoyable and an above average experience is its cleverness in its execution and likable and very well realized characters.

All three are sympathetic in their own way and the relationships between them as well as their characterization are great. However, the eventual coming to peace with the two enemies is very clichéd and of course as always unrealistic, especially because it happens so incredibly fast and feels very rushed and it feels implausible in the context of this war.

But the approach is good as it is more subtle whereas the direction from Zaza Urushadze is very subdued and quite professional. The three-act structure is well executed, but is rushed in the last act and the ending feels contrived. As for the visuals, the film looks solid, but there is nothing particularly cinematic to be found here as the film is limited in scope and setting.

But the acting is absolutely superb with each and every one of those three performers delivering in spades, which really helped their characters become fully-fledged and not clichéd characters. The script is also unexpectedly strong and the emotional engagement is evident.

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The message is simplistic, but it works nonetheless as Tangerines is all about finding common ground and humanity behind each and every one of us. This war that happened in Abkhazia back in the early nineties was a very complex geopolitical affair, so the film is overly simplified in the handling of this subject, but at least it’s a good introduction for anybody who is more interested in this particular period. It definitely deserved its Oscar nomination and it was wonderful seeing these two rarely-mentioned countries get on the board in cinema.