DIRECTOR: Ignas Miskinis
STARRING: Dziugas Grinys, Robertas Petraitis, Digna Kulionyte, Irena Sikorskyte, Vaidile Juozaityte
RUNNING TIME: 2 hrs 0 minutes
LANGUAGE: Lithuanian
PLOT: It follows Rimants, a young man far more invested in rugby, music, and small-time black-market hustles than in his schoolwork. But when he falls for Monika, the certainty with which he drifts through life begins to waver, and his faith in love, and in the future he thought he didn’t care about, is suddenly put to the test.
GENRE: Comedy
FILMING LOCATION: Siauliai, Lithuania
To check out all previous submissions for Lithuania, click HERE.
STARRING: Dziugas Grinys, Robertas Petraitis, Digna Kulionyte, Irena Sikorskyte, Vaidile Juozaityte
RUNNING TIME: 2 hrs 0 minutes
LANGUAGE: Lithuanian
PLOT: It follows Rimants, a young man far more invested in rugby, music, and small-time black-market hustles than in his schoolwork. But when he falls for Monika, the certainty with which he drifts through life begins to waver, and his faith in love, and in the future he thought he didn’t care about, is suddenly put to the test.
GENRE: Comedy
FILMING LOCATION: Siauliai, Lithuania
To check out all previous submissions for Lithuania, click HERE.
FILM REVIEW:
(This review contains spoilers.)
“Believe in your own abilities."
Ignas Miskinis’s Southern Chronicles is a raw, propulsive portrait of youth on the margins, filtered through the restless gaze of its protagonist, Rimants. Set against the backdrop of Siauliai’s working-class neighborhoods, the film blends coming-of-age turbulence with a sharply observed social realism. Miskinis avoids romanticizing rebellion; instead, he roots Rimants’s world in concrete details, rugby practices, cassette-blasted afternoons, and the illicit trades that provide both survival and thrill. What emerges is a vivid atmosphere of post-Soviet uncertainty, where aimlessness becomes both a shield and a symptom of a generation trying to decode its place in a newly shifting landscape.
The film’s energy is carried by its grounded performances, especially in its depiction of friendship and the fragile bonds that hold young men together. Miskinis pays close attention to the rituals of masculinity, competition, bravado, reckless loyalty, and how they mask deeper insecurities about identity and direction. Scenes unfold with a loose, observational rhythm, letting Rimants drift through school corridors, dingy apartments, and rugby fields with a sense of improvised momentum. This fluidity reflects the character’s internal state: he’s in motion but never quite progressing, propelled by instincts rather than intent. The cinematography mirrors this tension, contrasting the muted greys of the city with bursts of color in moments of reckless joy or emotional risk.
Monika’s arrival introduces the emotional fracture that gives the film its shape. Their relationship, tender yet unsteady, disrupts Rimants’s comfortable detachment. Miskinis resists melodrama, choosing instead to explore how love challenges Rimants’s self-constructed myth of indifference. The romantic subplot is not treated as a narrative accessory but as a catalyst that forces Rimants to confront the future he has been avoiding. Through small, intimate moments, a shared cigarette, conversations soaked in late-night melancholy, the unspoken weight of expectation, the film builds a portrait of first love as both liberation and confrontation. Monika becomes less a symbol of salvation and more a mirror reflecting the vulnerability Rimants tries desperately to outrun.
Southern Chronicles is a film about the precarious threshold between adolescence and adulthood, and the fear that stepping forward might mean losing the identity one has relied on for survival. Miskinis uses Rimants’s journey to interrogate the illusions of freedom that come with rebellion, contrasting the temporary rush of risk with the more difficult task of imagining a future. The central point of the film is that love, romantic or otherwise, is not a distraction from this search but its most destabilizing and transformative element. Through Rimants, the film argues that growing up is not about abandoning your past, but about daring to believe that the future demands more from you than self-preservation.
(This review contains spoilers.)
“Believe in your own abilities."
Ignas Miskinis’s Southern Chronicles is a raw, propulsive portrait of youth on the margins, filtered through the restless gaze of its protagonist, Rimants. Set against the backdrop of Siauliai’s working-class neighborhoods, the film blends coming-of-age turbulence with a sharply observed social realism. Miskinis avoids romanticizing rebellion; instead, he roots Rimants’s world in concrete details, rugby practices, cassette-blasted afternoons, and the illicit trades that provide both survival and thrill. What emerges is a vivid atmosphere of post-Soviet uncertainty, where aimlessness becomes both a shield and a symptom of a generation trying to decode its place in a newly shifting landscape.
The film’s energy is carried by its grounded performances, especially in its depiction of friendship and the fragile bonds that hold young men together. Miskinis pays close attention to the rituals of masculinity, competition, bravado, reckless loyalty, and how they mask deeper insecurities about identity and direction. Scenes unfold with a loose, observational rhythm, letting Rimants drift through school corridors, dingy apartments, and rugby fields with a sense of improvised momentum. This fluidity reflects the character’s internal state: he’s in motion but never quite progressing, propelled by instincts rather than intent. The cinematography mirrors this tension, contrasting the muted greys of the city with bursts of color in moments of reckless joy or emotional risk.
Monika’s arrival introduces the emotional fracture that gives the film its shape. Their relationship, tender yet unsteady, disrupts Rimants’s comfortable detachment. Miskinis resists melodrama, choosing instead to explore how love challenges Rimants’s self-constructed myth of indifference. The romantic subplot is not treated as a narrative accessory but as a catalyst that forces Rimants to confront the future he has been avoiding. Through small, intimate moments, a shared cigarette, conversations soaked in late-night melancholy, the unspoken weight of expectation, the film builds a portrait of first love as both liberation and confrontation. Monika becomes less a symbol of salvation and more a mirror reflecting the vulnerability Rimants tries desperately to outrun.
Southern Chronicles is a film about the precarious threshold between adolescence and adulthood, and the fear that stepping forward might mean losing the identity one has relied on for survival. Miskinis uses Rimants’s journey to interrogate the illusions of freedom that come with rebellion, contrasting the temporary rush of risk with the more difficult task of imagining a future. The central point of the film is that love, romantic or otherwise, is not a distraction from this search but its most destabilizing and transformative element. Through Rimants, the film argues that growing up is not about abandoning your past, but about daring to believe that the future demands more from you than self-preservation.
