Teenagers will inevitably be teenagers. This is the timeless takeaway of Promise, I'll be fine (Hore je nebo, v doline som ja), which had its world premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Centering on Eno (Michael Zachensky), a 15-year-old in rural Slovakia who learns some harsh truths about his often absent mother, the emotional coming-of-age tale marks an auspicious debut for its director, Katarina Gramatova.
The drama – whose opening credits inform us that it was “Inspired by life in the 'Hungry Valleys'” of Slovakia – does not present a particularly idyllic portrait of its naturally beautiful but impoverished surroundings. There, Eno and his three male friends engage in the kind of mindless time-killing escapades familiar to any teenager.
Promise, I'll be fine
The bottom line
A touching, if dark, story of growth.
Place: Tokyo International Film Festival (main competition)
Launch: Michael Zachensky, Jana Olhova, Eva Mores, Adam Suniar, Dominik Vetrak, Julius Ol'ha, Attila Mokos
Director-screenwriter: Katarina Gramatova
1 hour and 32 minutes
They sit around eating pizza while making sarcastic comments about the villagers, including the local drunk. They look at 3D photos of naked women on an old View-Master type device. And they ride around endlessly on their mopeds, occasionally taking the kind of journey that takes them to exciting destinations like a McDonald's on the highway. The prospect of an upcoming cycling race, complete with prize money, promises to infuse their routine lives with at least a little excitement.
Eno lives with his grandmother (Jana Olhova), who has little tolerance for dissent and never misses an opportunity to remind him of the sacrifice he is making. His mother (Eva Mores) is absent for long periods at a time, working at an unspecified job in a more prosperous region. Although Eno desperately wants to have a loving relationship with her, she constantly makes excuses as to why she can't see him more often, assuring him, “You have my word, I'll be back before the holidays are over.”
Eno's fragile illusions are shattered when his friends tease him, as teenagers are wont to do, telling him that his mother is not the virtuous woman he thinks he is and that she is actually engaged in nefarious activities that exploit the elderly. Forced to turn to her for help when he crashes his moped and breaks the engine, he confronts her about the true nature of her activities when she finally stops for a visit. The resulting encounter, in which his vulnerability and her deceptions are laid bare, provides a quietly shocking climax.
Writer-director Gramatova, working from an original story co-conceived by producer Igor Engler, based this effort on her experiences making the short documentary A good mind grows in thorny places in the mountain village of Utechka. Many of that film's young subjects make their acting debuts here, and their naturalistic performances are truly impressive, especially that of Zachensky, whose brooding character and James Dean-like good looks make him a natural subject for the camera. Professional actress Mores delivers a memorable turn as Eno's mother, projecting a complex array of emotions in her relatively short time on screen and displaying the kind of fierce charisma that makes both her son's fixation on her and his scam skills.
Boasting the kind of lived-in authenticity that gives her family story an undeniable urgency, Promise, I'll be fine is expected to enjoy considerable success on the festival circuit and international art houses.
Full credits
Venue: Tokyo International Film Festival (competition)
Production: Dryeye Film, Nochi Film
Cast: Michael Zachensky, Jana Olhova, Eva Mores, Adam Suniar, Dominik Vetrak, Julius Ol'ha, Attila Mokos
Director-screenwriter: Katarina Gramatova
Producers: Igor Engler, Julie Markova Zackova
Director of photography: Tomas Kotas
Editors: Alex Valtr, Katarina Gramatova
Costume designer: Agata Zenklova
1 hour and 32 minutes