Dry Leaf

One of the boldest formal experiments in recent cinema, Dry Leaf finds striking beauty in the low-res and lo-fi. Lisa, a sports photographer, vanishes while documenting soccer fields in rural Georgia. Her father, played by the director’s own, sets off to find her, traversing villages and backroads rendered as pixellated vistas of cows, smudged wildflowers and hazy smears of autumnal light. Objects blur, orientation dissolves. Koberidze wields his W595 Sony Ericsson like a painter, conjuring gorgeous compositions reminiscent of Impressionist pastorals. Attuned to shifting light and fleeting detail, Dry Leaf is as much a mystery as it is a meditation on perception – an invitation to look anew.