16/02/2024 - BERLINALE 2024: Levan Akin’s new film is a tender buddy movie with an added shot of chacha

In the gay romance And Then We Danced [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Levan Akin
interview: Levan Gelbakhiani
film profile], Levan Akin achieved that ultimate arthouse goal: he made an ambitious film that still managed to engage audiences, also outside of the festival circuit. It also stirred controversy in Georgia, where it was set. His Berlinale Panorama opener Crossing [+see also:
trailer
interview: Levan Akin
film profile] is a much quieter proposition – although there is dancing here, too – but it might actually repeat its success.

It could also result in some protests, sadly, as this time Akin takes on the Georgian trans community. All it takes is one scene at the beginning to establish the extent of their struggles, but there is nothing shocking about this tender story. Instead, it’s another example of how to make crowd-pleasing films about extremely serious topics: Goran Stalevski’s recent Housekeeping for Beginners [+see also:
film review
interview: Goran Stolevski, Alina Serban
film profile] also comes to mind.

In Crossing, retired teacher Lia (Mzia Arabuli, a bit Anna Magnani-ish) decides to find her trans niece Tekla. Apparently, it was her sister’s dying wish. She joins forces with a bored neighbourhood boy called Achi (Lucas Kankava) who is, well, yearning for any change that may come his way. It’s his lucky day, clearly – they head to Turkey because that’s where Tekla might be right now after years of experiencing nothing but rejection. There is an address, Achi claims, which will lead them to a community of sex workers. And to Evrim (Deniz Dumanlı), a lawyer fighting for trans rights – and her own.

Thanks to this odd pairing – although Dumanlı does some screen dominating of her own – Akin’s film morphs into an unlikely buddy movie: Lia and Achi bicker, they fight and they establish rules that exist only to be immediately broken, as “no drinking and no narcotics” quickly turns into “a chacha a day keeps the doctor away”. Still, as is usually the case, they start warming to each other. It’s unavoidable and predictable, but it’s also fun.

How can a movie about a search for a trans kid in hiding be “fun”? All you have to do, Akin proves, is celebrate kindness. For anyone outside of Hollywood, it’s not exactly an easy choice: festival films often go for violence instead, for despair, and they win awards for it. Akin shows that another take is possible. What’s more, it’s precisely what’s needed right now.

These two are not very good at looking for lost people. They find other things, though: understanding and forgiveness. There is a first brush with freedom for Achi, a moment of letting go for Lia, who goes from lamenting, “Georgian women used to be refined,” all the way back to her less restrained self, to the girl who was “the best dancer in the village”. She lost that girl a long time ago. She lost her sister, her niece. And for what? It feels like this whole film is about one’s search for freedom and about coming to the realisation that caring about other people’s opinions is just about the biggest mistake you can make. Don’t do it, kids big or small. It’s not worth it.

Crossing is a Swedish-Danish-French-Turkish-Georgian co-production staged by French Quarter Film, and co-produced by Easy Riders Films, 1991 Productions, Adomeit Film and Bir Film (Istanbul). Totem Films handles its international sales.