How to Re-establish a Vodka Empire
(Using your family, friends and a lot of chutzpah…)
Directed by Dan Edelstyn
Scored by Andrew Skeet.
Enjoyed by Me.
Among the many highlights of the U.K. Jewish Film Festival from 1st to 20th November, playing at the lovely Tricycle Cinema (my local but I’m not biased. Well..) on Sat 12th was a potentially overlooked but well-attended screening -free vodka had nowt to do with it, I’m sure- of Dan Edelstyn’s quirky drama/doc, How to Re-establish a Vodka Empire.
Coming over as a glorious mix of Who Do You Think You Are? and Dragon’s Den, the utterly charming presence of Edelstyn himself and his lovely long- suffering behind- the camera- partner (who also features as the Film’s star Maroussia) leads us through the story of 20th Century Jewish history: Diaspora, immigration and assimilation- but, fabulously, not so you’d know it!
Prompted by the discovery of his Grandmother Maroussia’s diaries and letters in his mothers attic, Dan sets off to Ukraine to explore his family’s origins in the former soviet Union. Rich, educated, cultured Maroussia, herself a biographers dream candidate, was- as Woody Allen or Blackadder would have it, forced out by the Bolsheviks. And therein lies the joy of Dan’s approach-total irreverence mixed with straightforward reporting on the travails of his journey and any unexpected discoveries on the way. The filming style switches from straight documentary hand- held blah blah, through powerful archive footage of the White Guard, to hilarious montage (tribute to Eisenstein in there, perchance?) and claymation; a Hitchcock homage to Spellbound and the coup de Cinema itself- staged black and white silent movie clips complete with inter titles, where the “actors”- himself, his partner, his baby Esme (one of the many unexpected twists that pop up during the films 5 year, excuse the pun, gestation) enact the roles of his ancestors, complete with false moustaches and nary a pretence at authenticity. Great!
This adds up to a fascinating story, brilliantly told.
Oh, and he discovers his Great- Grandfather owned not only a sugar factory but a distillery. Hence the re-Establishment of the Vodka Empire. In Selfridges. And he meets a lot of arsey business types. And suspicious Ukrainians. And Maroussia and husband Max settled in Belfast, where they ended up on opposite sides of the political divide.
Why was this delightful film only 75 mins? We, unlike the Ukrainian villagers, were robbed!
5 Stars
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Caroline Burns Cooke
carolinecooke@blueyonder.co.uk