Street Days (Quchis dgeebi)

Year: 2010
Country: GEORGIA
Run Time: 86 minutes

Checkie is a very desperate man. A middle-aged heroin junkie, he spends most of his time trying to score with other addicts on the streets of Tbilisi, Georgia. An accurate depiction of the "lost generation," those who were young adults at the time the Soviet Union fell, STREET DAYS tells Checkie's story. No longer able to provide for his son Oto, Checkie is kicked out by his exhausted and despondent wife Nino, who's doing her best to keep the bank from seizing everything they own. When Checkie is cornered by the corrupt police officers following him, he must make the difficult decision between going to jail himself or destroying the life of a dear friend. Ika, who is curious about trying heroin, is the 16-year-old son of Checkie's former classmate Zaza, now a rich politician. If Checkie can turn Ika over to the police for drug-possession, he'll get a piece of the blackmail money; if not he faces prison or, more likely, death. Truly a good person at heart, Checkie wants to help his family, but can he bring himself to introduce Ika to a drug that will most certainly ruin his life? Although he seems to come up with a plan that may just fix everything, the odds are against Checkie and things go from bad to worse quickly. Told primarily within the confines of the bleak streets of urban Georgia, STREET DAYS is a nerve-racking drama about the intense shame and desperation of one man who struggles to get his life back. (In Georgian with subtitles) – M.M.

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