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‘The Antique’ Review: An Unlikely Bond Blossoms in a Hostile Climate in Georgia’s Stately Oscar Submission
Rusudan Glurjidze's 'The Antique' is a sorrowful tale of human connection against the backdrop of Russia's mass deportation of Georgians in 2006.
Initially pulled at the last minute from its Venice premiere slot, due to an alleged copyright dispute that the filmmakers declared an attempt at Russian censorship, the film eventually had a belated bow on the Lido — now boasting battle scars that may lend additional currency to its stand against Georgian oppression in Putin’s Russia. Played by Demuria with a flinty, closely guarded air of self-containment, Medea is a brisk pragmatist who, like many of her compatriots, has left Georgia for economic reasons — and is no great hurry to form human connections in Saint Petersburg, the elegant but icy streetscapes of which rather suit her non-convivial nature. But the chief pleasures in “The Antique” are ones of time and place and temperature, all evoked through the misted lens of ace Spanish DP Gorka Gomez Andreu — an ASC Spotlight award winner for his work on “House of Others.” Once more layering the frame with oxidized textures redolent of water damage and mirror rot, his exacting compositions suggest a pained present becoming shameful history before the very eyes of its participants.
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