If it’s black humour and fatalism with a stiff shot of misanthropy you’re looking for, search no further than this cruel but compelling drama from Bulgaria. Elegantly written and assembled by co-directors Petar Valchanov and Kristina Grozeva (with script assistance from Decho Taralezhkov), this realist fable revolves around railway linesman Tzanko (a soulful Stefan Denolyubov), a shy loner with a stammer.
One day, Tzanko finds cash scattered all over the tracks he tends to, and reporting it to the authorities sets off an all-too-plausible chain of mishaps that rebound on Tzanko most of all.
Margita Gosheva plays a key role as Julia, a selfish, cynical but not altogether heartless PR executive, distracted by a husband keen to get on with harvesting her embryos for IVF. Julia tries to turn Tzanko’s good deed into a distraction from a corruption scandal involving the minister of transport. But in this mechanical universe, as precise as Tzanko’s antique watch, no good deed ever goes unpunished. The nervy handheld camerawork and natural lighting connect Glory aesthetically to the similarly pessimistic naturalism of Romanian cinema while displaying an even darker, lugubrious Slavic edge.
