To my senses, this debut short film has a decent amount of the two things which most Bulgarian films - low or high budgeted, feature or short - lack. The first is interesting visuals. We are not talking about spectacular cinematography, but of a simple distinctive character, due mainly to the low budget, which nevertheless gives the story a nice shadowy ambience. The second is that the work cannot be reduced - as is often the case - to "filmed theater", i.e. The passive recording of dramatic performances, whose representation in visual form adds nothing to them whatsoever. Here a simple low-key cinematic language is utilized to develop the story and give it character.
The story itself is that of a middle aged woman working as a dishwasher who resorts to prostitution in order to get some money for her son's birthday.
A certain sound design choice is made: during the opening and the end sequences of the film, both set in interiors, we hear the voices of well-known politicians discussing financial issues such as salaries, budget cuts, etc. While this motif is a fine framing devise, it pushes things a bit too far for my taste. And this is not because such a component is bad in itself, but because the story speaks well enough on its own and the political discussion only serves as an unnecessary restatement of the obvious setting: the withdrawal of the state and the devastating results it has on the lives of regular people.
From what I understand this is a self-financed debut project which gives the film some extra charm.
