Critic Rating
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Director
Hiner Saleem
Cast
Romen Avinian,
Lala Sarkissian,
Ivan Franěk,
Ruzan Mesropyan,
Zahal Karielachvili,
Astrik Avaguian
Genre
Drama,
Comedy,
Romance
Hamo, a handsome 60-year old man, lives alone in a Romenian village with one of his daughters and his granddaughter. He also owns a retirement of seven dollars per month, a closet, an old russian television set and a military costume.A letter from his second daughter arrives from France.A rumor runs through the village: the envelope would be full of money...But Hamo doesn't think but of the beautiful unknown girl from the cemetery.
We hate to say it, but we can't find anywhere to view this film.
Village Voice by Michael Atkinson
Saleem, a Paris-based Kurd, displays the visual confidence and subtle screwball rhythms of a master, exploiting offscreen space, deadpan compositions, and deft visual backbeats, as well as attaining a breathtaking fidelity to real light and landscape.
New York Post by V.A. Musetto
Iraqi-Kurdish director-writer Hiner Saleem is in no hurry to tell the story, and viewers drawn in by the warm-hearted tale and charmingly eccentric characters will be in no hurry for the closing credits.
Variety by David Stratton
A little gem that takes a potentially grim subject and mines it for maximum humor and insight.
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
The thicket of relationships that the director, Hiner Saleem, has created and weaves his cast and camera through is so invitingly hotblooded and crowded with hilariously melodramatic incident that the snowbanks are not nearly as forbidding as they initially seem.
The New Republic by Stanley Kauffmann
As the picture winds on, the feeling grows that Saleem, who clearly knows these people, wants to show that their mode of life in this stark setting has, in a gentle way, a touch of the ridiculous.
TV Guide Magazine by Ken Fox
The situation in these former republics may indeed be dire, but it's a breeding ground for exciting cinema.
New York Daily News
Saleem makes clever use of imagery, with the beautiful, snow-filled vistas representing his characters' personal and social isolation. But "Vodka" moves about as fast as the distant ice caps melt.
L.A. Weekly by David Chute
Exceedingly dry and precise and slow-paced comedy.
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
Diverting but minor.
Film Threat by Phil Hall
The film's leisurely pacing is often too slow for its own good, and many scenes meander endlessly with no true payoff.
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