Angel on the Right (2003)

Aimlessness is a big problem with a lot of film-fest entries and with ND/NF entries in particular, since a lot of the involved films are debut features. This flick's no exception -- after a marvelous start, the plot seems content to go nowhere in particular. But, with characters as fascinating and oft-endearing as the ones we have here, that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's one of those slice-of-life joints where the destination isn't as important as what you can see along the way, and in its own unhurried and unfussy kind of way, this movie's golden. It possibly wastes a little too much time just marking time, especially in the slack second half, but it has a grumpy-dad-and-cute-kid subplot that avoids both cliche and emotional ham-fistedness. That alone makes it a little treasure; the deadpan sense of humor is just icing. I wonder if the other movies coming out of the former-Russian satellite countries are at least this neat.

Grade: B