Variety Raves for Ana Urushadze's 'Supporting Role' as Festival Acclaim Builds
Variety critic Jessica Kiang has published a rapturous review of Georgian writer-director Ana Urushadze's second feature Supporting Role, calling the film "darkly daring" and "an exhilaratingly offbeat oddity" (Variety).
The film stars Dato Bakhtadze — known to international audiences from the Hollywood films Wanted and Extraction 2 — as Niaz, a retired Georgian movie star living in Tbilisi whose glory days are behind him. At the story's centre, Niaz attends a casting session for a supporting role in a debut feature directed by a young woman. Actress Elene Mausuradze plays Aza, an androgynous female director who pitches Niaz the part at the call. After an encounter that bruises his pride, Niaz dismisses the role he is offered as pretentious (Variety; Screen Daily).
The cast also includes Nato (Nata) Murvanidze and Lasha Mebuke (IMDb). Sten Sheripov composed the score. The runtime runs 139 minutes.
Urushadze based Supporting Role on an experience she had while making her debut feature Scary Mother, which won Locarno's Best First Feature award in 2017 (Variety). The Estonian production company Allfilm is among the producers (Allfilm/Facebook).
The festival circuit has embraced the film. Supporting Role won a Special Jury award and the FIPRESCI prize — the latter handed by the international federation of film critics — at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in January (Variety). Its trailer debuted ahead of that Rotterdam premiere (Variety). The film also took the best performance prize at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Variety) and has been selected for the main competition at the Sarajevo Film Festival (Variety).
Screen Daily's Lee Marshall reviewed the film in February, describing it as a fluid tragi-comic drama anchored by Bakhtadze's performance (Screen Daily).
What makes this stand out is the trajectory: a Georgian-language drama, 139 minutes long, rooted in the specificity of Tbilisi's film culture, collecting prizes from Rotterdam to the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and now drawing rapturous notices from major trade publications. Kiang's review in Variety lands as Sarajevo's competition looms — a festival run that keeps extending the film's reach.
