I completely agree with the person who says that the 8,4 score is a joke. It is as false as the movie itself. I disagree with the other person on the account of the actors' performance, camera work, music, etc. The acting is so bad that I wanted to leave the cinema in the first few minutes. The actors recite their lines as if they were in some third class theatre play. Shopov utters his words with a pompous, almost tragic intonation but may be the worst is the actress who struggles with the English as well as with the lines in Bulgarian.
There are lots of shortcomings, I just don't know where to start. The script is not very good, there are lots of clumsy lines which make the job of the not very talented actors even more difficult. The music is quite obtrusive, non-stopping and plain annoying. The exaggerated, unnecessary camera movements increase the nausea, already present in the viewer. Bulgarian film makers don't understand that less is always more, especially when a real concept and ability is lacking.
When I say that this movie is false I mean that it gives an untrue picture of the life in Bulgaria. Yes, there are some affluent and even very rich people there but if you judge from the film only, it looks as if Bulgaria has reached and surpassed the life standard of Western Europe which of course is far, far from the bleak reality. May be this is one reason why many Bulgarian viewers like the film - it makes them forget the ugly apartments they inhabit, the run-down streets, the poverty, etc. In the film we see interiors looking as photographs in a furniture store catalogue, everything is overly coordinated and unreal, yet far from stylish. One of the couples in the film ate sushi which provoked some excitement from the audience, oblivious to the fact that they were eating the sushi with fork and knife! Another problem of the film is the product positioning - everybody seems to use the same type of computer and drink the same brand of whiskey. And the list could go on and on.
I think the biggest problem in Bulgarian cinema now is not the the lack of finance but the lack of real, original talent. The tendency is to make films which follow all the bad Hollywood clichés because the film makers think that in this way the movie will appeal to the Western audience. Wrong! Just look for comparison to the Romanian '4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days'.
