The latest from multi-talented filmmaker Valentyn Vasyanovych, who also plays the lead character, is set in Ukraine’s post-war future. While the country has been liberated, it's not quite the homeland that he and many others had longed for.
In Ukraine’s post-war future, Roman (Valentyn Vasyanovych), a struggling film director, dreams of making movies once again. He is residing in Kyiv with his 18-year-old son (Hryhoriy Naumov), while his beloved wife (Marianna Novikova) and young daughter remain in Vienna, the city they fled to at the beginning of Russia’s illegal full-scale invasion.
Much to Roman’s mounting chagrin and despite a newly elected populist government — and the fact that he’s unwilling to leave the country he fought for — his family doesn’t plan on returning to their homeland due to the poor economic and political landscapes. These, regardless of liberation and ongoing pushes from citizens, are slow to reform. As he prepares a new film with his trusted producer Volodymyr Yatsenko (the real film’s producer), his close friend Vlad (Vladen Odudenko) may be a melancholy mirror into his own future: he has already lost his family to the allure of the West. Meanwhile, his ailing father (Volodymyr Kuznetsov), possessing a demeanour sourced from all that he has survived, provides a different outlook on life.
Shooting alongside Misha Lubarsky, the multi-talented Vasyanovych — the film’s writer, director, editor, and lead — rounds out his dystopian trilogy (which also includes Atlantis, TIFF 2019, and Reflection from 2021) with a warning to his fellow citizens. If Ukrainians want a better future, they will have to conquer more than just the Russians, heartbreaking as that may sound. Part comedy, part tragedy, Vasyanovych’s latest echoes like a popular toast shared by friends around a table wishing for a better future: To The Victory!
DOROTA LECH
Screenings
Scotiabank 11
TIFF Lightbox 3
Scotiabank 9
Scotiabank 8
Scotiabank 10