Other events in Baltic States

The Hollywood Reporter has published a praising review of Mellow Mud (Latvian title Es Esmu Seit), the first feature film by Latvian director Renars Vimba that recently premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, informs LETA.

"Though this is only his debut feature, Vimba already has a mature visual grammar, often moving the story on with graceful, wordless vignettes. His two young stars are also terrific, especially Vaska, who successfully suggests brittle depths masked by too-cool-for-school insolence. Hazy, autumnal vistas of rural Latvia are another sensory selling point, as is the elegantly spare choral score by Latvian composer Eriks Esenvalds,” says critic Stephen Dalton.

Created by Vimba and Tasse Film, Mellow Mud premiered the Berlinale's teen-focused Generation 14 Plus section on February 14.

Big screen debutante Elina Vaska plays Raya, a disaffected 17-year-old growing up with her younger brother Robis (Andzejs Janis Lilientals) in their grandmother Olga's remote farmhouse. With her father apparently dead and her much-missed mother now mysteriously living in London, our hormonally supercharged heroine is prone to angry outbursts against teachers, neighbors and social workers. But when Olga dies suddenly, Raya treats her loss like an unexpected stroke of good luck, discreetly burying the body instead of reporting it to the authorities, then stealing her grandmother's pension money and attempting to play surrogate parent to an increasingly fractious Robis.

"Ironically, by treating potentially sensational subject matter with admirable restraint, this rites-of-passage story may prove a little too tasteful to make much of a splash internationally. But it has sufficient high-art polish to grab more festival platforms, where it will serve as a calling card for Vimba and his quietly magnetic young star Elina Vaska,” says Dalton.

Latvian movie houses will start screening Mellow Mud on February 26.