The Giants of Easter Island

Like the title of Reshef Levi's "Lost Islands," Kosashvili's "Giants of Easter Island" doesn't tell much about the movie but instead is the name of an item of mass-marketed escapism that captures the interest of the juvenile characters, whose world from day to day contains nothing unfamiliar. Circumscribed though it is, though, that world presents them with enormous conflicts between fear, loyalty, shame, sexual (or pre-sexual) attraction-- very big quandaries, and the next generation upward in the movie is, if anything, less mature about handling them. Lest the movie go spinning off in all directions, there is a wise father who serves as fulcrum-- but the movie has been criticized as fragmented nonetheless. I'd say keep your eye on the plot thread about the kids, be sure you remember which is which, and enjoy the occasional burst of (former Soviet) Georgian music.

I enjoyed this very colourful and whimsical picture without trying too hard to understand what's behind its many symbols and metaphors. I don't feel guilty about it though because in my opinion, those symbols are very personal and dear to those who conceived them and very carefully turned them into words, images and characters.

My hypothesis is that this one is about the artist's childhood memories of the time when his family immigrated from Georgia to Israel and his interpretation of what this time looked, sounded, smelt, tasted and felt like. Poverty and crime of the time all of a sudden turn into a curious game full of humour and quirks, which reminds me of Michel Gondry and Wes Anderson at the same time. But Koshashvili has his own unique style of story-telling and I'm happy to have gingerly peeked at it by watching his shrewd and mischievous Giants.

I went to watch it today and if I wasn't in the cinema I would of stopped watching it at the beginning.

This director is well known for one big movie he made almost 30 years ago and was a huge success. This time, allegedly for the first time since that movie, he decided to go back to his origins(Georgian heritage). The script was illogical and full of plot holes, the actors acting were acceptable. The cinematography is just okay, nothing to write home about. I felt like it was a complete waste of my time. 2 hours that were completely wasted. DO NOT watch this film, it's not worth your time. I repeat, do not watch this film.