The Empty Home

Do you want to know what's empty? It's not a home. It's the space between the ears of all the principal characters! Pusdoy dom, a 2012 Seattle International Film Festival World Premier entry from Kyrgyzstan/Russia (English captions) subjected us to an endless and almost unbearable series of poor choices made by a long list of unlikeable characters.

We saw:

• A young woman, slated to be the second wife of a drunken "Mr Big," longs for the bright lights of Moscow. She fakes her virginity, but runs off that night with some of the cash gifted to the couple.
• A goat gets its throat cut in living color so our "heroine" would have blood for her wedding night.
• A drunken father being trundled home in a wheelbarrow by his exasperated daughter.
• Numerous cell phones are used but I never saw a charger....
• A man gets his head bashed in with a rock because the other man didn't like him.
• A plasma TV being traded for a young bride.
• Another goat gets its throat cut.
• An unwanted child is traded for cash but the adoptive mother is certifiably insane.

Senseless violence, poor choices, undependable people and amorality run amok, all conspired to leave us feeling vaguely superior because WE would never behave that way! (Sorta like watching Jerry Springer.)