AllMovie

Writer/director Nana Ekvtimishvili makes her feature directorial debut (alongside co-director Simon Gross) with this unsentimental coming-of-age drama set in the capital of Georgia following the fall of the Soviet Union, and focusing on the turbulent friendship between two 14-year-old girls in uncertain times. Inspired by a defining chapter in Ekvtimishvili's adolescence, In Bloom tells the story of Tbilisi teens Eka (Lika Babluani) and Natia (Mariam Bokeria), who both live in overcrowded family apartments, and lean on each other for support as war rages in Abkhazia. With no father figures to guide them, the two girls pass the time gossiping with peers as handsome teen Lado (Data Zakareishvili) and local hooligan Kote (Zurab Gogaladze) vie for Natia's affections. When Lado decides to seek work in Moscow, he bestows Natia with a revolver for self-defense. Meanwhile, it's Eka who seems to need protection from harassing bully Kopla (Giorgi Aladashvili), who torments her daily on the way home from school. As the relationship between the two girls continues to grow and evolve, Eka's distracted mother Ana (Ana Nijaradze) struggles to provide for her children as her husband languishes in prison.