A local’s review of “The Southern Chronicles” – unpretentious and warm, yet a bit basic / “Pietinia Kronikas” Review

Saying that I was excited to see the Lithuanian movie “The Southern Chronicles” by Ignas Miškinis would be an understatement. I was born and raised in a small village near Šiauliai, a city in Lithuania where the film is set in, and due to that, I felt an immediate connection. The southern(Pietinis) is a district in Šiauliai with a shady reputation. I haven’t visited it a lot in my childhood or as a teen, but it always had a mythical status with the locals – a place you were both afraid of and fascinated by.

Adding to the anticipation was the early positive review, both by movie critics and regular cinemagoers. Furthermore, the marketing campaign(that started at least 6 months before the premiere) was brilliant and perfectly targeted an audience of my age. The visuals used, the slogans, outtakes, and music, everything was crafted perfectly to lure us in. Nostalgia is a powerful emotion. And it obviously worked. The movie had the best opening weekend of any Lithuanian movie so far.

I’m not a movie critic; I’m just a random dude who likes to watch good cinema. However, as a local who grew up during a similar time period, I fully understand the context of this film. While this is my first movie review, I do think that I do have some valuable insights to add.

Visuals and Style

Right off the bat, I liked it. The visual style of the film is mostly brilliant with a touch of missed opportunities here and there. Watching the movie, and lived in the ’90s, I feel like it successfully captured the vibe of the time period in Eastern Europe. The cinematography mixed digital, VHS, and even some original recordings from those days. This sounds great and worked for most of the film, but there were a few cuts where the shift between the look and feel of the shots was rather disruptive and broke the immersion. This is definitely not a deal breaker, but area that could be improved. I hope future films by director Ignas Miškinis don’t have similar trivial issues that, from my point of view, are easy to avoid.

My applause goes to the art director/set designer. The costumes, music, set design, and locations were all spot on. The film looks authentic and, in most scenes, reminds me of photos in my family’s albums. It accurately reflects the era. Location selection is noteworthy – most of them are iconic spots that most locals will recognize from a single frame. The soundtrack? Great, iconic, catchy. The music selection fits the story and its energy. I was truly immersed in the ’90s.

The Cast

Instead of starting with the lead role, I want to highlight the performance of Robertas Petraitis – Mindė, the best friend of the protagonist. His charismatic performance was the most natural, from his infectious smile to his authentic expressions. His accent, energy, and the way he spoke reminded me of people I knew when growing up. Very real and very charismatic. I hope to get a chance to see him in the lead role in the future.

The main character, Rimantas, was played by Džiugas Grinys. He was also solid throughout. The biggest issue for me was his age, being around 24 years old, he looked a bit too old for his role of an 18-year-old. Rimantas was meant to be a tough guy who discovers and explores his sensitive side over the duration of the movie, but even in the first quarter of the film, I felt like he lacked the rebellious energy I was familiar with from the ’90s. He was too soft and likable. I would have preferred a stronger transformation.

Other notable performances include Irena Sikorskytė as Jurga and Rasa Samuolytė as the Lithuanian teacher. Loved them both and hope to see more of their work. However, what happened with the rugby scenes? Very disappointing. All of them(of which there were at least 5 of them) felt too slow and soft. One of the biggest, if not the biggest, disappointments of the movie. Rugby played an important role in Rimantas life and it is sad to see it being portrayed so poorly. Ignas Miškinis should have just hired a real rugby team to help with those scenes. Once again, it is an issue that could have been easily avoidable. Especially with the legendary rugby club “Vairas” playing in Šiauliai.

The Narrative

This, in my opinion, was the biggest shortfall of the film. Yes, it is still enjoyable, but the storytelling felt unbalanced. At some points, the story moved too slowly, while at others – too fast. There were three or four scenes where the director decided to cut to a different scene way too early before allowing the audience to enjoy and absorb the energy. Others, especially towards the end of the movie, felt too dragged out and probably could have been trimmed or cut entirely. The energetic, funny, and relatable first half of the film sets the scene. But as the movie progresses, it tries to get a bit more serious.

The main character, Rimantas, has issues balancing rugby(the sport that he loves and is good at), his parent’s expectations, his interest in girls, and his emerging passion for literature and writing. He also has to deal with the struggles of living in Šiauliai in the ’90s. One of two of his relationships is with Monika (Digna Kulionytė), an upper-class girl from a different school.  His passion for writing was born in this relationship. At first, it was just a way to impress a girl who was obviously out of his league. But it gradually turns into a genuine passion. This new hobby of his unintentionally sparks a new connection with Jurga(Irena Sikorskytė), an artsy girl who is the complete opposite of Monika. She seems very genuine and true to herself. For me, their natural connection was the emotional high point of the film. Their chemistry felt very real and heartwarming. Sadly, neither side acknowledges their feelings, and Rimantas himself is not sure about her, well at least not for the majority of the movie. Viewers never find out if they end up together, but I certainly hope they do. It seems to me that his troubled past kept haunting him, keeping him from fully embracing the change from a tough guy fighting for a spot under the sun to someone who is true to himself.

Apart from Rimantas character arc, the film also portrays a slow transition in Lithuania that happened in the ’90s in general. After we gained our independence we evolved, people no longer needed to fight and be so tough just to survive. Naturally, they started exploring other ideas and passions, that were earlier seen as stupid, not cool, or simply not viable as a career path. In this sense “The Southern Chronicles” had more depth in the story than I first assumed. It is not about Rimantas, it is all about us.

That being said, the last 30 minutes seemed to be pointless. We don’t really get to know the characters better, the story doesn’t evolve too much, and the characters just keep on acting like they did throughout the whole film. This movie is 120 minutes long, it could have probably been crisp 90 minutes. More dense and impactful. There were at least 3 scenes that I thought were the closing ones, but they weren’t. This might be a great creative choice or a flaw, it depends on your point of view.

Conclusion

I came to the cinema to see “The Southern Chronicles” with sky high expectations, and while it didn’t quite meet them all, I feel like it still delivered what the director Ignas Miškinis wanted it to. The more demanding viewers might feel like the movie is relatively average: the storyline is simple and suffers from a lack of complexity. But as I said, I think this might be intentional. This is a movie for the whole country(and beyond), and you won’t break Lithuanian box office records with a hard to grasp film that is deeply philosophical. Well, at least not yet. You can say that this movie plays it safe, but I think that it does that with intention, confidence, and authenticity. I respect it for that. The performances, visuals, and atmosphere were all on a level not yet seen in mainstream Lithuanian cinema, setting a new standard for the local industry. This is more than a movie; it is a sign of good things to come here in Lithuania. I’m very excited to see what the next few years have to offer.

Final score: 7/10

I’m still uncertain if this is my new favorite Lithuanian movie of all time, It is currently tied for the first place with a film by Marija Kavtaradzė “Slow”. I might publish my personal ranking of Lithuanian movies in the future and decide which one of them is my favorite. If I ever do that, I will add a link here.

Have you watched The Southern Chronicles?  Do you agree with my opinion? Let me know in the comments!