Alternately tender and boisterous, Levan Koguashvili's third feature centers on the misadventures of former wrestler Kakhi (Olympic champion Levan Tediashvili, gruffly charismatic). Though his wife (Laura Rekhviashvili) is bed-ridden as the result of a fall, he's worried about their son, Soso (Giorgi Tabidze), who lives in the States, so he arranges a visit. Before leaving Tbilisi, he bids his beloved dog goodbye and packs several rounds of Georgian cheese in his luggage.
Kakhi stays with Soso at a Georgian boarding house in Brooklyn's Brighton Beach, peopled by a friendly if rowdy crew (one elderly gentleman was an opera singer). Soso, who works as a mover, has racked up $14,000 in gambling debts. He hopes to pay them off, get a green card, and take his medical exams. To help him out, Kakhi takes a job as a home care aid, in which he cooks, bathes, and massages an elderly couple. When that job takes an odd turn, he seeks other solutions. Though Kakhi is hardly young, his wrestling skills end up proving invaluable. Soso's girlfriend also sticks by him, even as his debts increase.
During his stay, Kakhi tangles with a Kazakh landlord, a trio of Russian thugs, and an aged heart that threatens to give out at any time. Whatever it takes to get his hapless son back on his feet, he'll do it.
In the way Koguashvili (Blind Dates) recreates the old (Georgian) world in the midst of the new (American), Brighton 4th serves as a cousin to Kirill Mikhanovsky's 2019 Milwaukee-set Give Me Liberty in which a Russian-American medical transport driver attempts to help out his grandfather while navigating a challenging day. Khaki also spends so much time looking after a loved one that he doesn't leave any time for himself.
Brighton 4th was written by Boris Frumin (Errors of Youth) and shot by Alexander Payne associate Phedon Papamichael (Sideways, Nebraska) who usually works on bigger-budget productions. The evocative, artfully-framed results play like a cross between Bob Rafelson's Atlantic City-set The King of Marvin Gardens and James Gray's Brighton Beach-set Little Odessa.
Though Levan Tediashvili is hardly an expressive actor, his minimalist performance proves more affecting than that of a calculated approach. Kakhi looks as if nothing could rattle him, but he learns the hard way that stoicism has its limits. At the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, Levan Koguashvili's film won awards for best film, best screenplay, and best actor.
What type of library programming could use this title?
Library programming concerning Eastern Europe and immigration stories would find it of value.
What kind of film collection would this title be suitable for?
It would fit with film collections that explore immigrant stories and father-son relationships.
What subjects or college majors would benefit from the content covered in this film?
It could prove a valuable and timely resource for students studying Eastern European Culture.
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