“Vasomotor Rhinitis,” directed by Mikheil Gabaidze
San Diego Short Film Festival
Foreign Language / Drama
TRT 15:00
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A clerk (David Jakeli) sneezes on a high-ranking government official (Zaal Goguadze) at a concert. He immediately apologizes, but doesn’t quite get the reaction he was expecting. He attempts to apologize again after the concert, but fails to do so. Later that night, at home, his wife (Tatia Tatarashvili) encourages him to try again – but he needs no encouragement. The next day, he practices his apology in the mirror, goes to the official’s office, and continues to apologize despite the official’s confusion about his persistence. He eventually goes home, lays down on his couch, and dies.
“Vasomotor Rhinitis” is based on “Death of a Civil Servant,” Anton Chekhov‘s 1883 short story. How short? You can finish it in just slightly more time than it took you to read my synopsis of the film in the first paragraph.
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The film follows most of the beats of Chekhov’s story, with an identical setup and ending – but its story spans one fewer day and brings the setting forward in time by about a century and a half. And since the film is set in modern times, it hits a little different. Has the clerk never heard of the Streisand Effect? Is he neurodivergent in some way? And is the whole affair a COVID metaphor, or is more thematically attached to the source material’s critique of strict social hierarchy? It's ambiguous, but not in a bad way.
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“Vasomotor Rhinitis” will be entertaining even to those of you whose attentions started to wane when Chekhov’s name was mentioned. Despite being Gabaidze’s first work and despite the lack of budget, it showcases good performances throughout and thoughtful, creative blocking and editing. It breezes by despite taking longer to complete than the source material. And there are some meticulously planned and executed edits and mirror work that demonstrate a true directorial flair.
Mining Chekhov for first-movie material was gutsy enough. Making it broadly interesting and fun? That’s almost astonishing.