Honeymoon

A couple celebrates their marriage with friends and family only to have their lives turned upside down in a matter of days in Zhanna Ozirna’s electrifying feature debut. The film’s title is literal as Taras and Olya spend their first days of wedded bliss cocooned in their high-rise apartment. But their joy takes a radical turn when the war in Ukraine escalates. What was supposed to be a special moment in their lives becomes horrific when Russian soldiers invade their building. As Honeymoon transforms into a thriller, the drama oscillates between tender moments of a young couple in the first blush of married life and the terror of the war that threatens to engulf them. Shot on location in Kyiv, Ozirna employs intimate cinematography to immerse us into the world of Taras and Olya as they fight to preserve their love and survive. —Kristal Sotomayor