STREET DAYS

A film that observes its figures with a dispassionate, unblinking eye. As we follow the movements of the protagonists through their quarter of Tbilisi, they might belong to one big, happy family. Everyone knows everyone by name, the upper-, middle- and lower-classes live at close quarters. All the same, the gulfs that yawn between people are revealed all the more clearly in the course of the film, as one character after the other falls victim to the prevailing law of the jungle. Unless their drug habits have already stripped them of their dignity and self-respect, the men behave like testosterone-fired adolescents. The strain of maintaining some semblance of order and normality has turned the women into hysterical furies – communication is impossible. The story of Chekie, a kind-hearted junkie, plays against this backdrop. An unscrupulous group of corrupt policemen is pressurizing him to introduce to heroin the young son of an old school-friend, who is now a minister, and a candidate for blackmail. All they need is a plausible reason. Chekie resists, but his problems are mounting: his dealer stops delivering the goods, his little son is chucked out of school, his ex-wife is harrassing him for urgently needed cash. His desperate, half-baked kidnapping plan almost results in the death of his hostages. The police are hot on Chekie’s heels. But even when he’s forced to admit that his addiction has robbed him of any control over his life, he remains the only character who manages to preserve his integrity.