Holy Electricity

Just like two cousins transform rusty iron crosses into beautiful, neon-lit trinkets, Georgian director Tato Kotetishvili uses his stylish fable Holy Electricity to transform the city of Tbilisi into a magical space that comes alive through fantastical and absurd vignettes.

When life gives you a suitcase full of iron crosses, you polish them up and sell them as neon-bright commodities to the gullible co-dwellers of your city. At least, that’s what Gonga and his cousin Bart do in this vibrant debut feature by Georgian director Tato Kotetishvili. The duo’s quest to turn scrap into gold becomes the loose narrative structure of this stylish film, which opts for a vibe-based approach to the inner city of Tbilisi.

Holy Electricity shines in its playful depiction of its surroundings, celebrating a multi-layered city inhabited by a myriad of eccentric characters. The dreamy electronic music, strikingly composed cinematography and occasional streaks of the absurd only reinforce the idea that Holy Electricity is an ode to the power of transformation. Just like the neon-illuminated crosses, this endearing film chooses to make everything in life a bit prettier, to show the brightest and sweetest version of a metropol that is often grimly depicted in more austere movies. Kotetishvili takes Tbilisi’s reality and turns it into a remarkable fable. By doing so, Holy Electricity seems to say that even the most ordinary slice of life has the potential to become fantastical.

– Hugo Emmerzael

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