Natasha (2015)

Natasha: Directed by David Bezmozgis. With Alex Ozerov, Sasha K. Gordon, Genadijs Dolganovs, Deanna Dezmari. A forbidden romance between a 16-year-old Russian Jewish immigrant kid in Toronto and his cousin by marriage, a 14-year-old girl from Moscow with a scandalous past.

“From online descriptions this began to sound like a romance. And it is one at its heart. You want to believe that the story might carry itself and that the details are there just to lend authenticity. But in this film the opposite happens: it gets so bogged down by its own details that the story itself drowns.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFirst we have the older generation debating over what characteristics make one Jewish enough. But none of them newly in Canada seems to keep Judaism close at heart – they donu0026#39;t go to a synagogue and never pray or even refer to the Bible; so what is the point?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThen we have the teenager and his older friends trading in marijuana. At least one of them is growing it and several apparently smoke it. Instead of introducing the audience to characters, the pot-trading characters look shallow and stupid. Itu0026#39;s a backward step in plot development – more interesting characters would give Tasha people to react to or learn from.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut when Mark shows Tasha round the neighbourhood, he never teaches her anything about her newly adopted-culture except how to inhale. So now both of them look shallow and stupid; the smoking doesnu0026#39;t advance their relationship; and neither of them smiles at the other.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn fact Tasha never learns any English and though Mark speaks English at them most of his relatives never use it, though they all must know it (so do mind the subtitles). This barrier remains one through the whole plot and keeps the teensu0026#39; relationship at a standstill – exactly what the audience does not expect or want.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUltimately the only character you care about is Tasha, whilst no-one else in the movie cares about her – as a sympathetic character no-one even thinks of or mentions here. These self-centred immigrants donu0026#39;t even stick together to worry about or support a young member of their own whom they have to know is in serious trouble.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI found myself cheering for Tasha to make the life change she mentions for herself; but the film concludes leaving us no idea what will happen to her at all. So having drowned in its side stories (none of which is ever resolved) the film simply ends, as though it has run out of time, with nothing positive to recommend itself. And to me thatu0026#39;s a tragic waste of an intriguing story line.”