Otar Megvinetukhutsesi Movies

Despite the fact that he is Jewish, Motl Rabinovich and his family have always gotten along well with his village neighbors. Even the fact that he's opening up what appears will be a successful dairy-products business provokes no resentment, because Motl has always been ready with a helping hand, a welcoming drink of vodka, and a friendly word. However, despite that, he frequently worries about the pogroms that plague his co-religionists elsewhere in Russia and fears that he and his family will perish in one. The only person in his village that Motl doesn't trust is a neighbor who is always coming by to complain about how he's mistreated by everyone. One day, that neighbor hears that elsewhere in the province a pogrom is beginning. He wants to be on hand at Motl's house to lend a hand to the Jew-killers and rushes on over. When he gets there, he finds that he's the only person there. Embarrassed, and wishing to cover his tracks, he asks for (and receives) a drink of vodka from his wary neighbor. When the pogrom looks like it is spreading, Motl, who fears that outsiders will be coming to abuse or kill him and his family, flees. However, he soon returns to his village, and he and the villagers work out an agreement: they will make sure that outsiders hear the sort of stories they evidently want to hear about how the villagers have persecuted and abused their Jew, ensuring a peaceable situation all around. The director of this film, Dmitry Astrakhan, later directed two popular crowd-pleasers: Ty u menya odna (You're My Only One) and Vsyo budet khorosho (Everything Will Be Alright). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In a deliberately unhurried manner, this film tells a story of an actress' family life. She has a husband, a lovely child, and a comfortable life. On the surface, she has a lot of understanding friends. Gradually, the film shifts from a lyrical mood to a more sober and exact portrait of the people and their time. This film won a "Best Director" Award at the Tokyo Film Festival. The manner in which the story is told is somewhat disconcerting, as its episodes are intentionally put together in a way which makes them seem as if they are happening to completely unconnected people. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Poetry, vivid imagery and allegory mark the nearly two-dozen episodes of this epic tale about human life and its troubles, set in the Georgian village of Kachetien near the turn of the century. One continuing thread concerns a young woman, in love with one man, who is married off to another by the village elders. When she is caught meeting her true love, she is paraded through the village for public abuse and ridicule, during which globs of mud are hurled at her. Many vividly drawn and eccentric village characters are portrayed, from simpletons to fortune-tellers, and their dreams reveal what each would consider to be happiness in this life. The well-regarded director of this film, Tengiz Abuladze, was known for his visually sophisticated and symbolically rich works. The Wishing Tree is the second film in a Georgian trilogy by Abuladze: the first, released in 1969, was Encounter, about the primitivist artist Nikos Piosmani the last, released in 1987, is known as Repentance. The Wishing Tree, based on a tale told in blank verse by Georgi Leonidze, won many prizes: the All-Union Grand Prize, the Prize of Karlovy Vary Film Festival, the State Prize of Georgian Republic, and the David Donatello Prize from Italy, as "Best Foreign Picture." ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide