Is it supposed to be this chaotic? This apartment seems less a collection of extended family and more “what might happen if people were chosen at random to occupy a phone booth.” I saw the whole film and I still don’t know how several of these folks are related. Apparently, that doesn’t matter. Family is whomever shows up.
And, yes, it is supposed to be this chaotic. Good to know.
It took about 20 minutes for the tears to start. And until that time, I just wanted to yell, “Calm down, movie, let me figure out who is who.”
That didn’t actually matter all that much. While bodies come and go at random in this film, it seems, the key person is Dita (Anamaria Marinca). Follow her and the rest will be ok. The problem is Dita seems like a bit player until Housekeeping for Beginners becomes her story. Two of the apartment residents are Dita and Suada (Alina Serban), her girlfriend. Sauda has two children, a precocious grade-schooler, Mia (Dzada Selim) and troubled teen, Vanesa (Mia Mustafi).
There’s also a gay man in this household, Toni (Vladimir Tintor) and the 19-year-old he brings home one evening, Ali (Samson Selim).
I’ve already introduced too many people. Believe me, it gets worse. Focus on Dita. Dita’s girlfriend is dying of pancreatic cancer. If movies haven’t lied to me, it’s gonna be painful and quick. Dita has neither interest nor inclination about being a mother, but Suada’s dying wish is that Dita parent Suada’s children. And if that isn’t the ask of asks, I dunno what is.
And then there’s the chaos.
And then there’s the legal guardianship issue.
And then there’s the fact that Vanesa is just a pain in the ass.
Dita doesn’t know what she’s doing and Vanesa isn’t trying to help. Meanwhile, Toni resents every little bit of this, especially the part where the kids are being put in his name.
And who is the rock here? Well, it’s the 19-year-old playboy stray cat 
who showed up one day, entertaining as all Hell, yet owning a soul nobody would guess has an ounce of responsibility.
Focus on Dita. The rest is noise. And there’s a lot of noise. But it is all noise. Dita, a gay, grieving, middle-aged, chain-smoking social worker is -ironically- our “everyman.” She is the conscience of the audience wondering how they would deal with Vanesa, the teen who cannot wait to throw her life away on whatever ill-advised promise or addiction comes her way.
This is Dita’s dilemma; this is our dilemma.
Housekeeping for Beginners is a bit too cringe for me. I can certainly take multiple gay relationships under one roof combined with child-rearing issues to boot, but add cancer and a stacked phone booth worth of other faces showing up and the whole thing is difficult to parse. I imagine that is part of the metaphor. I’m guessing writer/director Goran Stolevski made exactly the film he wanted to make … and it’s a good one, if a little tough to watch, and tougher still to comprehend.
There once was a lover named Dita
Who acquired a problem discrete-a
For her GF had cancer
Forcing Dita to answer:
“Who will see after my daughteta?”
Rated R, 107 Minutes
Director: Goran Stolevski
Writer: Goran Stolevski
Genre: What to expect when your partner is expiring
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Caring parents
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Social workers
