Nuo Lietuvos Nepabegsi (Lithuanian) [You Can’t Escape Lithuania]

This film for some reason is being promoted as a gay film, which, to be honest, is wrong in my opinion. One of the main characters is gay but the film is actually about friendship and what you will do for your friends. It shows the complexity of personal relationships between family members, friends and lovers. Also, this is the first film that I am seeing from Lithuania, so I was quite excited to see the film and see what their cinema has to offer. At the outset, let me mention that this is slightly an abstract film, especially the ending.

Rich and gay film-maker Ramos is now with his boyfriend Carlos, whom he met in Mexico when he was showcasing his last film. His best friend an actress of his films Indre comes one morning and explains him how she accidentally ended up killing her mother. She is terrified of jail and Ramos comes up with a plan to help her escape from Lithuania. Carlos reluctantly agrees to help, knowing very little about what exactly is going on. A road trip begins and at some point Ramos starts filming things joking that this probably would be his last opportunity to actually make an experimental film. During the road trip, we see Indre having meltdowns, we also find out that Carlos is actually an escort, whom Ramos is paying to be with. Indre and Carlos end up fucking which Ramos witnesses and films. Ramos continue to do what's right for Indre till she also finds out that Ramos knows about her quick affair with Carlos. Fast forward to one year later, and Ramos is now presenting this experimental film which gets weird reactions from people watching it.

This film is filled with sexual energy and tension. Everything was going good and things started promising until they messed up the ending. It would have been fun if this film was a thriller or something and how will Ramos actually react to Indre and Carlos. But all thats cut and we see that a film is made. What happened to Indre? Characters have sadly not been developed properly, especially Carlos. What's going on in his head especially since he doesn't understand the local language. The other problem is the uneven tone. By the time the credits roll, you have the idea that the filmmaker himself is unsure what kind of film he was making. Thankfully acting by all principal actors was good but more character. Development would have helped. Carlos was a good eye candy.

I really wouldn't recommend especially given the abstract ending of the film. Maybe someone can rework the script and come up with a thriller. (3.5/10)

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