Summary
A deaf boy joins a boarding school for similar children. Confronted by the violent and criminal antics of some of the other boys and girls, he struggles to conform and join the 'tribe'.
A deaf boy joins a boarding school for similar children. Confronted by the violent and criminal antics of some of the other boys and girls, he struggles to conform and join the 'tribe'.
In one sense, this Ukraine-set drama about a gang of young hoodlums is a lot like hundreds of other gang films, with a story that follows an outsider (Grigoriy Fesenko) rising to the top of the heap through cunning and violence. What makes director Miroslav Slaboshpitsky's feature debut extraordinary is the fact that all the characters (and the actors playing them) are deaf sign-language users whose communication is never translated by subtitles or any other means. These kids are mean, violent and ruthless bad-asses who go to a special school by day and by night run drug and prostitution rings on the city outskirts. The approach sounds disorienting, but after a while the expressiveness of their gestures and the acting is all the viewer needs to understand what's going on. With no spoken dialogue, Slaboshpitsky uses sound inventively to further the story. A disturbing and extraordinary work.
role | name |
---|---|
Sergey | Grigoriy Fesenko |
Anya | Yana Novikova |
Svetka | Rosa Babiy |
Gera | Alexander Dsiadevich |
King | Alexander Osadchiy |
role | name |
---|---|
Director | Miroslav Slaboshpitsky |