The American Dream may be a mass delusion, but it’s the realest thing in the world to those under its sway. Zhuk was able to manifest her destiny and make it across the ocean, and her movie offers a compelling glimpse at why that may have been the only choice her country ever gave her.
Crystal Swan(Хрусталь)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Belarus, United States, Germany · 2018
1h 34m
Director Darya Zhuk
Starring Alina Nasibullina, Ivan Mulin, Yuriy Borisov, Svetlana Anikej
Genre Drama
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In this eye-popping and acerbic comedy, young Evelina dreams of leaving Belarus for the US and pursuing a career as a professional DJ. However, when a mistake on her visa application prevents her from going, Evelina must confront her life and the world around her in 1990s Minsk.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Screen Daily by Demetrios Matheou
The debut feature by Belarus-born, US-educated Darya Zhuk may be set in the mid-90s, but with a plot founded on a young Belarussian’s obsessive desire for an American visa, and a sting in the tale that chimes with the #metoo movement, it has a remarkably topical ring to it.
Slant Magazine by Diego Semerene
Throughout the film, it’s as if mundane objects hold the remedies for the wretchedness of everyday life.
The Playlist by Gregory Ellwood
What there is, however, is Nasibullina and she makes you root for Velya despite all the character’s faults
No community is as straightforward as it seems in Zhuk and Landauer’s irony-rich, tone-switching script: What begins as a kookily comic quest is complicated by the emergence of human tragedy, prejudice and sexual threat.
The Hollywood Reporter by Stephen Dalton
Despite its relatively unusual setting, Crystal Swan is a largely conventional fish-out-of-water story at heart. But it is elevated above the routine by its excellent cast, especially Nassibulina, and plenty of visual flair.
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