Shultes

Georgian director Bakur Bakuradze's promising debut is striking first and foremost in its ability to transcend its ostensibly dull central portrait of a lonely Muscovite to become an intelligent and probing film which dares to question human nature itself. Chitava puts on a courageous performance as Shultes, a young man who lives life on the edge as a pickpocket.

Extreme in his aloofness and sentimental detachment from others, Shultes' relationship with his victims, his fellow pickpocket Kostik (Grebyonkin), and even his sick mother (Firsova) remains mechanical and bereft of emotion. Although for the most part, the film appears to lack a sense of purpose or direction, the masterful final scenes engage the audience and invite them to reinterpret the preceding events in a completely new light.