MOTHERS by Milcho Manchevski

RECENT INTERNATIONAL PRESS QUOTES

‘Mothers’ is a very strange film, sometimes sophisticated, poignant and often elliptical.   […]   One of the most interesting and original filmmakers of recent years   [...]  One of those authors who are not afraid to face the genres and to push the boundaries.    (Diego Pierini, LoudVision)  

Mothers debunks the notion that documentaries can tell the truth.    (Virginia Wright Wexman, Offscreen )
 
Art or death.  Opposing compromise, opposing image consumerism.  (Fulvia Caprara, La Stampa)   

Genius director   […]    Groundbreaking poignant films   […]   Dizzying dialectic   […]   Rave review   […] Milcho wants us to think. Isn’t that what great art should do?   […]   Better than fiction in its outrageous irony.  (Vanessa McMahon, fest21.com / filmfestivals.com) 

Manchevski goes beyond the literal -- to explore a deeper realm where sexuality, motherhood and the art of storytelling reside in conflict. […]  'Mothers' is a return to form for filmmaker Milcho Manchevski (The Cleveland Plain Dealer) 

'Mothers' offers a vision between truth and fiction. (Diario De Las Palmas) 
 
​‘Mothers’ is a film about moral courage. (Zitty Berlin)   

Painfully beautiful. (Duma)  

A provocative and innovative film from Macedonia that blurs the line between reality and fiction.  An intensely engaging film, ‘Mothers’ is not only a study on how reality is perceived and recorded, but also an examination of how women survive in a contemporary post-war culture. (Clevelandfilm.org) 
 
Stylistically provocative. (Connor McGrady , Brooklyn Rail) 
 
Manchevski gradually reveals the corruption and the failure of the Macedonian investigative and judicial system.  […]   Manchevski's esthetic experiment proves successful ​and confirms -- especially in the two fiction episodes -- his extraordinary talent as a storyteller of images and moods, his skills in directing actors of every age and his ability to suggest hints instead of verifying theories.  (Giovanella Rendi, close-up.it) 

‘Mothers’ is a daring, provocative, controversial film that explores the deepest human emotions: love and fear, while searching for the truth in between the two.  […] ‘Mothers’ will not give you refuge from reality, but - on the contrary - it will make you look at reality and oneself with eyes wide open. (Rochester Democrat & Chronicle) 

Structurally unusual, almost experimental and a very exciting film.  […]  A powerful punch in the stomach to the Macedonian society. (Dubravka Lakic, Politika)   Provoking deep reflection and polemic. (slovesa.net) 
 
Superior directing. (Märkische Oberzeitung) 
 
Compelling ‘Mothers’ mixes truth and fiction. […]  The story’s true power lies in its depiction of social change. (Arab Times) 
 
All three stories contain a hidden web of lies and betrayals, constructing a powerful final act about community and respect. (Radmila Djurica) 
 
One sad film.  […] Macedonian reality - exposed in ‘Mothers’ by Milcho Manchevski’s talented hand, mind and camera - is twisted, depressing and ugly.  (Milen Radev, Svobodata.com) 
 
[‘Mothers’ is an] operation completely extraneous to the conceptual and aesthetic codes of contemporary cinema. […]  Manchevski’s epic humanism finally returns.  (CineClandestino.it) 

​A really subtle exploration of truth and fiction in three deliberately diverse episodes,  courageously pushing the boundaries between ficti on and documentary in order to exert and negotiate a powerful feeling.  (The Official Jury elucidation on the Belgrade FEST award to ‘Mothers’)  
 
Original storytelling and courageous experimenting with the film language and genres. …  Subtle and truthful storytelling as well as pushing the boundaries between fiction and documentary narrative. (The Critics’ Jury elucidation on presenting the Neboja Djukelic award at Belgrade FEST to ‘Mothers’)

He composes them in a way where they collide and merge at the same time.   […]  While we watch, we start to doubt the documentary and trust more and more the artistic, the intuitive, the dramatic. The bonds between elements exist only in the mind of the spectator.  (Rada Sharlandzhieva, Lik) 
 
‘Mothers’ begins with fiction, indeed with the fabrication of a lie, moves on to an attempt at the fabrication of a myth and ends in the shattering imagery of the real, where no fabrication is possible.  […]  There is no easy reading of  ‘Mothers’, only a need for us to work with the filmmaker to uncover its many meanings. (Piers Handling, Toronto International Film Festival Director)  

‘Mothers’ opens up lines between documentary and fiction at the same time that it also blurs them.  […]  Such moments give Manchevski’s film a special place in contemporary cinema that should be viewed by audiences around the world.  […]  Many scenes and moments that will stay with you long after viewing the film.  (Andrew Horton, Script) 

​Milcho Manchevski knows how to make a movie, as was demonstrated by his assured, Oscar-nominated debut film Before the Rain, which made Stephen Spielberg sit up and request a meeting. Its three intertwined love stories have been cited as precedent for the three stories of Mothers, but Mothers reminded me of a full, old-fashioned movie palace program.  […]  I was never less than engaged. (Thomson on Hollywood, Indiewire, review by Anne Thomson)

Oscar-nominated Macedonian director Milcho Manchevski mixes fiction with documentary in a film that hits home on an emotional rather than intellectual level. (Hollywood Reporter) 
 
Manchevski’s deft handling of the various materials is both conceptually challenging and thoroughly satisfying. (Eye Weekly, reviewed by Chris Bilton) 
 
Macedonian director Milcho Manchevski continues down his distinctive artistic path. (Hollywood Reporter) 
 
Beautiful art about ugly reality (Vest Daily) 

www.manchevski.com