leilamehti After the fall of USSR, Georgia finds itself in anarchy, degeneration, decay and depression. All of this is reflected in behavior of its people. The movie paints a bleak landscape at every level: widespread crime, dog-eat-dog atmosphere expressed in bread lines (survival of the fittest); domestic violence - resulted from economic woes + accepted culture of excessive male dominance and drinking; decline in schools (teacher judges and makes fun of students in front of the class, making unpatriotic comments about a student's father fighting in a war with Abghazia). Atmosphere of hopelessness prevails in Georgia except for beautiful, little 14 yo Eka with very sad face. She is the light in this land of darkness, representing Georgian hope and possibly a better future some day. She is not afraid to stand up to societal wrongs, question, support and protect her friends, speak out and shame others for their indifference toward their own society i.e. their country. Eka is the hidden goodness of Georgia, characterized by her mesmerizing dance at the wedding. She is a "uniter, not a divider", able to lift spirits and make her countrymen smile, cry and feel some kind of pride and emotion for their lost and forgotten Georgian-ness.

Sergo Sharashenidze (sergio91) The new Georgina film ''In bloom'' makes Deep impression onlooker, great performance by Lika Babluani and Mariam Bokeria, - a classic story about the transition to adulthood and its attendant difficulties, where the great camera work and acting of spaces were completely wiped out in the story, rather odd mounting solutions, and, most importantly, the only female view of the world.The film is full of tragic scenes, typical of the Georgina, ''in bloom'' - talking about everyday life, it is often very cruel to us, on the abnormal situation in the families of the strong friendship and mutual assistance, first love ... yes, of love, of course, he said. And again about his childhood.I think This film is actually In Top 5 made In Georgia During last 20-25 Year.

spaceman88 The story revolves around two 14 year old girls, best friends growing up together in Georgia.Although it's set in 1992, the time-line and history is merely a canvas for a tale of friendship and difficulties in a flawed culture and society. We witness the hardships the two girls have to go through and negative or positive emotional bonds they have with friends/schoolmates/family.There's not much dramatization or cheesy drama going on, since the narrative is documentary-style realism à-la "A Separation". I have to applaud the two young actresses for more-or-less carrying the whole story on their shoulders, with success. Not that the other actors are bad, they all contribute to the authentic atmosphere. It's also hard to ignore the setting, the homes and streets that reek of post communist decay. This felt personal to me, having grown up in an "fresh" democratic Romania, where the circumstances were similar, even if not the same.I can totally recommend "In Bloom" to anyone interested in a good story. This is no Hollywood moneymaker, but I also disagree with another reviewer writing that it's hard to understand for non-Georgians. Cinema is universal.

Nika Gigashvili (www.running-reel.com) In Bloom is a Georgian submission on Oscars. Movie's original title literally translates as "Long Bright Days" and tells a story of two young best friends during early years of Georgian independence in 1992. Story of these two girls expose problems of our society which most of Georgians still face nowadays: domestic violence, ignorance, struggle between generations of parents and children.Eka & Natia are two teenagers living in extremely violent society, where you have no chance to find justice, or somebody to support you, even your family. This is war going inside of families and outside of them and mostly because grownups (parents) are not capable of dialing their lives. Sadly, their children get more harmed than they do. It is time when boyfriends give guns to their girlfriends, instead of some fluffy gifts, to ensure that they are safe, when underage boys can beat to death anybody they wish and when nobody cares if somebody gets killed in front of them. It's a story of massive ignorance of actions that are believed to be immoral, at least, today.In Bloom clearly shows deconstruction of functional society, how they accept violence on a daily bases - at schools, in the street, in the families. 90s is a period when children started not to understand their parent because they can not live with the mistakes adults have made, so the whole film is about kids asking for answers which they never get, because there is no one to answer.I liked the movie, as a Georgian. I mean, it is close to me, very understandable since I am familiar to every and each fact it talks about. But the problem is that it seems to be made only for Georgian, because I can't imagine anybody outside my country fully realize the whole drama films is trying to tell. And this is because In Bloom kind of lacks emotional depth. There is a scene when Natia, who's 14, is kidnapped by a guy, who's in love with her, and raped by him and later forcing her to marry. Having no choice, she does so, despite loving another guy from school. It is the biggest drama, since it's been a very common situation in Georgian life, lots of young girls have experienced the same and everybody (still) are accepting this on the moral or law bases. But, unfortunately, movie does not make this scene that much dramatic, it actually "skips" the whole trauma, which I found very irritating. If directors wanted to make other people understand why Natia's life was ruined, they should have made this more emotional, personal and clear.What I enjoyed very much, is cinematography. Georgian films mostly lack a good camera work, but In Bloom had very spectacular colors & beautiful shots. Main characters, who have received numerous festival awards, did brilliant acting job. They were best in delivering true feelings & emotions of their lives. But I think, there was much more directing work to do, that'd make film even more tense and interesting.Oscar chances? It won't make it, unless Academy wants to have Georgian film in final five (which won't happen). Mostly because it does not deliver relevant story, story which can be understood by anybody and not only by those, who've experienced it. This is a reason, why I give it 6 out of 10, it is too local and I want that Georgian directors to start filming more "international" movies.