Wet Sand

What an odd way to tell a story...via human puppets!

Everything is so staged and wooden - even the walking looks acted. You can see the [obvious] blocking and hear the direction...it's as if Elene Naveriani was summoning the ghost of Fassbinder...albeit with better production values!

Without a doubt, this is an overt mocking of small-town mentality - where tradition will always trump diversity. It could have worked if the two city-types weren't so animatronic and expressionless. Apart from the bleached hair and the police uniform, there really is no differentiation between these two vastly disparate worlds.

As a statement about Georgia's troubled past, present and future...and, this could be stretching the metaphor too far...to attain the country's asap aspiration [to accede into the EU]...it desperately needs to adapt and accept the modernity that comes with membership. Geographically speaking, Georgia is vulnerable and Russia still occupies 20% of the country...it's an interesting concept, how incoming people are perceived...as invaders, allies, occupiers or guests?

Wet Sand is all secrets and lies...an old love story is pitted against a blossoming one...the old was hidden, the new is brazen...it really does scream: Out with the old, in with the new.

It is a terrifically complex film...the puppetry is problematic...but, in the film's defence, you never know who actually is pulling the strings...here, it's the director. In real life, in Georgia...it's the State versus the Church versus the Occupiers!

An interesting and odd way to tell a story!

Trailer...