ROUNDS

One night in Sofia, three separate police cars on patrol. Between suicidal husbands, wandering dementia sufferers, human traffickers and arguments about the communist past and European present, it’s no wonder a corpse might get heaved a couple meters from its final resting place, into the next precinct’s jurisdiction – there’s enough paperwork as it is. All of the public servants here are struggling with themselves (in addition to trying to stay on top of events in their surroundings), whether it’s domestic problems, police regulations or inner demons. With its emotionally moving personal destinies, light and humorous moments and suddenly occurring glimpses into the depths of human depravity, ROUNDS paints a milieu portrait in its complex sequences that can lay claim to relevance beyond the confines of Bulgarian society. With its enormously long and nimble shots, Vesselin Hristov’s anthropomorphic camerawork causes viewer and character perceptions to merge, rendering the protagonists’ transformations, which sometimes play out in a single take, that much more compelling.