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Category:    Home > Reviews > Drama > Gangster > Foreign > Angel On The Right (Tajikstan)

Angel On The Right (Tajikistan)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: C+     Film: B-

 

 

As the former East Bloc countries enter the 21st Century, each eventually try to find their identity beyond survival long after the collapse of the Soviet Union.  Djamshed Usmonov’s Angel On The Right (2002) is a Gangster genre film that, like many others from that part of the world, is as much about the locations as it is the crimes committed.  First Run seems to feel this leans more towards the country and has issued it as part of its Global Lens series.

 

The story concerns gangster Hamro (Maruf Pulodzoda) who has a long history, a pre-teen son he did not know he even had and his sick mother brings him back home from Moscow/St. Petersburg into a visit with more shady individuals than he would like to be reunited with.  It becomes a battle of retaining his life, dignity, mother’s honor and dealing with a son he never had.  Of course, not everything is that simple, and it is all complicated enough.

 

Instead of exceeding its genre, it does it and the drama at hand about equally well, with Usmonov’s screenplay delivering a world we have not seen before.  I just wish it had been more about situations we had not seen before, yet it is not typical genre formula.  The factor of Muslim religion is a unique twist, especially since it is not related to any terrorist activities.

 

The letterboxed 1.66 X 1 image is fuzzy from the transfer, but nicely shot by cinematographer Pascal Lagriffoul, who used non-scope Technovision equipment with Kodak stocks.  Not only does this display some nice color quality, but it does this in a way you have likely not seen before, since it turns out Tajikistan has its own unique, cold look.  Film fans will want to see it for that if nothing else.  Dolby SR was the theatrical sound format, but the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has very little in the way of surrounds.  This did likely make the audio clearer just the same.  Extras include trailers for four other First Run titles, Global Lens 2005 trailer, text on the Global Film Initiative & on ten titles that are a part of it, director biography, brief text on the country and a DVD-ROM features that offers a PDF format discussion guide.  That’s not bad, and neither is the film, so catch it if you get the chance.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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