Rhino (2023) Movie Drinking Game
Take a Sip: whenever there’s a time jump (prepare yourself!)
Take a Drink: every time someone in the film does
Take a Drink: for every crime
Do a Shot: for when the title comes up
By: Henry J. Fromage (Two Beers) –
You may not see as many Russian arthouse films getting the international distribution you would have seen over the last decade or so, but conversely I’ve noticed more films popping up from the old Soviet bloc, and particularly Ukraine.
This one depicts the life of a common gangster in a small city in Ukraine, where his bulldog determination and physicality earmarks him for a quick rise up the ranks of the local mafia, and perhaps an even quicker fall…
A Toast
Right at the beginning, the opening montage formed from ingenious match cuts could almost stand on its own as a coming of age short film as we watch tow-headed boy turn into brutish man, and, swirling around him in his childhood home, why. It’s superbly done, enough so that it’s almost a bit of a letdown when the middle portion of the film depicting his rise in the criminal ranks plays out so conventionally.
Still, it’s well-acted, with lots of authentic setting and detail depicting an 80s and 90s Ukraine where many people live a small town, dirt road existence. If it’s anything like my time in Russia a decade ago, there are likely still many places in the Ukraine which don’t look too different, down to the hairstyles.
Where there’s a rise, the fall is inevitable, but when it’s revenge time, this film revenges real good, at least until you (and our Rhino) realizes that it just entraps him into a cycle of violence that he may be well suited for, but which takes something from the man he could be and what soul he has left each time he kills. The ending may not be as strong as that beginning, but it does does stick the landing.
Beer Two
At least for the first 75% of this film, you may well ask yourself why we should care about this guy who so easily falls prey to the cycle of violence his family has been caught in. This is no charismatic criminal, but rather a street tough who thrives on his power over those weaker than he. The soulfulness reemerges, but perhaps too late to truly empathize with him.
Beer Three
The film comes to the U.S. with a loaded subtitle that definitely overpromises- Rhino: Ukrainian Godfather. This isn’t, and isn’t trying to be, The Godfather.
Verdict
Rhino may not be a Ukrainian Godfather, but it is a nifty enough crime drama and character piece steeped in its location and culture, which is plenty enough.
Rhino just landed on your favorite streaming platforms last Friday, 3/24. Check it out!
