Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry

Etero is a forty-eight-year-old woman who runs a housewares shop in a small Georgian village. She never married and does not see this as a lack; she is planning a quiet retirement with her own house, her own money and her cakes. The village does not forgive it and talks behind her back. Then an unexpected affair begins with the man who delivers to the shop, and the order Etero built starts to shake. Elene Naveriani's third feature adapts a novel by the writer and feminist Tamta Melashvili, and the two wrote the screenplay together. The narrative begins like a love story and turns into a film about the cost of independence. The camera shows Etero's body close, unapologetically and in natural light. Eka Chavleishvili plays Etero and the film rests largely on her. It screened in the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes in 2023. Who it's for: Viewers who like Georgian cinema, narratives about women in middle age, and quietly moving drama. Who it's not for: The pace is very slow and the plot is thin. The sex scenes are also direct and long.