by MATTHEW HAYS

I can't tell a lie. Since Otar Left is one of those devastating family movies that you almost wish felt less realistic. That way it might be a bit less heartbreaking.

Set in a post-Soviet collapsed Georgia, the film has three generations of women living in a beautiful, but crumbling, apartment. Grandma (played brilliantly by Esther Gorintin) is a sweet but tough older woman, her daughter (Nino Khomassouridze) does her best to take care of Gran and her granddaughter (Dinara Droukarova) longs for something better than what life in a downwardly mobile place like Georgia can offer her.

If it sounds grim already, I'm describing it perfectly. The Otar of the title is Gorintin's son, a physician who has fled Georgia and is living in Paris illegally, working a construction job for money he desperately needs. He dutifully sends whatever he can back to his family in Georgia, and calls whenever he can. Gorintin is obsessed with him, talking of him constantly and always eager to phone and write to him. Khomassouridze is vaguely resentful of her mother's attention to the absent Otar, while Droukarova, understandably, just wants to bail on the place. Then comes the devastating news: that Otar has died in a tragic construction accident. The people who hired him are denying any culpability, suggesting that they had no idea he was in the country illegally. Shocked and saddened by the news, mother and daughter decide that grandma simply will not be able to cope with the news of Otar's death. So they do what any decent characters in mindnumbingly depressing films like this do: they play like Otar is still alive, still writing letters to Gran and still working away in Paris.

Director Julie Bertuccelli has crafted an amazing film, one full of rich detail, quiet nuance and lovely performances. Gorintin, in particular, is astonishing (especially considering she's a retired dental assistant with little or no formal acting training). As sad as it all is, Since Otar Left is well worth catching, a bittersweet glimpse into what's left behind the former Iron Curtain.

Since Otar Left opens Friday, May 21

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