Odds and Evens

This movie was filmed during a civil war between Islamic funamentalists and everyone else in the newly independent country of Tadjikistan, which is near Pakistan and Afghanistan. The constant presence of sounds of gunfire and, in night scenes, the additional illumination by tracer bullets, adds urgency and another layer of feeling to this fairly conventional romance. In the story, Mira (Paolina Galves) has just returned home to Dushanbe from Russia to visit her father (Bokhodur Dzhurabaev), a wastrel who is completely addicted to a local gambling game called “odds and evens,” or Kosh Ba Kosh. Even though he has no power over her, he recently wagered (and lost) her in a game of odds and evens. Meanwhile, she has met a cable car operator (Daler Madzhidov) with whom she forms a relationship.