A four-hander of a chamber play shot quickly in a single location in the lush, mountainous Georgian region of Guria, Zaza Urushadze’s Tangerines was a surprise nominee for best foreign language film at the Oscars. The Georgian director’s third feature is meticulously crafted. Composer Nias Diasamidze’s repetitive sad strings are appropriate for a story where winning is implausible. Ongoing slight, smooth camera movements reframe relationships and offset the threat of stasis. Urushadze and ace DP Rein Kotov go for strong, contrasting lighting effects not only for their beauty in this widescreen picture, but as another weapon against inertia. Small and dynamic […]