Housekeeping for Beginners, 2024.
Written and Directed by Goran Stolevski.
Starring Anamaria Marinca, Alina Serban, Samson Selim, Vladimir Tintor, Mia Mustafa, DŽada Selim, Sara Klimoska, Rozafa Celaj, Ajse Useini, Aleksandra Peševska, Irena Ristić, and Filip Trajkovikj.
SYNOPSIS:
Despite never aspiring to be a mother, Dita finds herself compelled to raise her girlfriend’s two daughters. As their individual wills clash, a heartwarming story unfolds about an unlikely family’s struggle to stay together.
With Housekeeping for Beginners, writer/director Goran Stolevski (a Macedonian-born Australian filmmaker who seems determined never to repeat himself and willing to tackle any genre) deftly takes viewers inside the home of one dysfunctional family living together more for societal convenience rather than actually liking one another. With homophobia and racism running rampant in Macedonia, it’s easier to forge an alliance and look out for one another, even if more bodies walking through the door primarily equates to more shouting.
Goran Stolevski also isn’t concerned with more traditional storytelling. He practically drops viewers into the deep end and hopes they are drawn in enough by these bold, admirable, and sometimes abrasive personalities to invest in figuring out who is connected to whom, how individuals became acquainted, and whether or not the future is in good hands for them. This is part of what makes him so talented as a filmmaker.
Each of the characters here is absorbing for a different reason, functioning within a household that interacts with one another using a raw and crude sense of authenticity; there is a lack of political correctness here that feels very true to this place and also rooted in the injustices these characters face from more privileged, white or straight people daily. It’s the type of screenplay with characters hurling offensive language at one another as a means of reclamation. Sometimes, the only way to live and operate in a society with regressive values, deeply against who you are as a person, is to lean into similar harshness and language alongside peers.
This might make Housekeeping for Beginners sound confusing, but it’s anything but, and easily accessible for foreign language film beginners as well. The script spends a balanced amount of time introducing the primary characters, observing them across a greater story that knows precisely when to reveal small details about each person to flesh out that bigger picture continuously. It knows how to hint at character dynamics without bludgeoning them over the head.
The head of the household appears to be social worker Dita (Anamaria Marinca), who comes into taking on the role of an actual mother to her temperamental girlfriend Suada’s (Alina Serban) young daughters Vanesa (Mia Mustafi) and Mia (Dzada Selim) following a tragic death brought on by pancreatic cancer. Spread out in different rooms across this home or friend, the trio of other lesbians and night shift asylum employee Toni (Vladimir Tintor) routinely brings younger men into the fold for relationships. His latest partner is 19-year-old Ali (Samson Selim), a young man with ambitions and dreams, aware that due to the country’s laws, he will eventually have to take a woman partner to get ahead in life, even if it means regularly betraying her and continuing more serious relationships with men. As for Toni, his insistence on inviting men over for hookups has become a point of contention, but one Dita potentially puts up with to keep up a more believable appearance with this ragtag fake family.
Housekeeping for Beginners also doesn’t shy away from the racial divide and the special treatment white people get in Macedonia. This leads to some more extreme measures to take custody of Suada’s young girls, trying to fake their way through a different kind of connection. Smartly, Goran Stolevski knows not to present these children as naïve and dumb; Vanesa is your standard rebellious teenager rejecting her new guardian, whereas Mia catches on that these “parents” aren’t even attracted to the same gender, let alone each other. Meanwhile, the gentle, nurturing Ali assures her they share a special friendship. As for Dita, it’s a journey of figuring out how to relate and be a guardian to these girls, especially the angsty Vanesa.
While there are dour dramatic elements, Goran Stolevski also has a sense of humor with Housekeeping for Beginners tuned into the reality that the family’s differences and chaotic behavior with one another carries a pulsating, infectious energy that keeps us wanting the best for these lovable disenfranchised misfits. That doesn’t mean there is anything groundbreaking regarding these character dynamics and storytelling, but the Macedonian setting adds a culturally specific twist, allowing for more shades and layers to these people. Yes, so much of what here is familiar (the character arcs and growth are exactly what’s expected), although it feels fresh and blisteringly real with a stellar ensemble.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
Originally published April 11, 2024. Updated April 10, 2024.
