Housekeeping for Beginners Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Housekeeping for Beginners Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Justin Dekker January 2, 2025

From Writer/Director Goran Stolevski ('You Won't be Alone, 'Of an Age') , 'Housekeeping for Beginners' arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal. Set in Macedonia the film stars Alina Serba ('Gipsy Queen'), Anamaria Marinca ('The Girl with all the Gifts'), and Vladimir Tintor ('Sonja and the Bull') in a heartfelt story of an unconventional family that is simultaneously thrust together and pulled apart by death. This standalone Blu-ray release does not include a DVD, slipcover or Digital Code.

Set in a part of the world that will feel a bit foreign to Western viewers, Housekeeping for Beginners presents an emotional study of a family thrust together by circumstance. As the film opens, Suada (Serba) has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Her partner, Dita (Marinca), an emotionally distant stoic, searches for any and every potential treatment, even as Suada seems resigned to her fate. Living with them are Suada's two young daughters, along with Toni and his current boyfriend, and several young lesbian women. Underneath the playful hostility and sometimes very real disagreements, it's clear all of those that live with Dita and Suada have come to love and depend on each other. In this home they are safe to live their lives how they wish, free from the discrimination and hostility that awaits them if they reveal their true selves outside its walls. Suada, though, is the obvious gravitational force that holds all of these other bodies her sway, and in her absence they threaten to spiral off into space.

Alina Serba's performance, though abruptly cut short, is, nonetheless, powerful. Her fear at her diagnosis that she channels into rage at her doctor over his treatment of gypsy woman is obvious. This fear-driven hostility also translates into lashing out at her partner who either still clings to hope or refuses to accept the truth, and finally, is at the root of a supreme act of desperation as she attempts to ensure a safe and better future for her daughters after she is gone. Equally moving is Anamaria Marinca's journey as Dita, as she deals with grief while shouldering a burden and responsibility she does not want but had no choice but to accept. Through it all, Stolevski does not allow the camera to back away from the raw, unflattering, and messy moments that craft the scrapbook of this group of people who were drawn together as they try to reform their family after tragedy.

Housekeeping for Beginners Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Housekeeping for Beginners looks quite good on Blu-ray. The film's handheld style keeps the camera in relatively constant motion, even if those motions are slight, providing and almost documentary feel to the film. Mostly comprised of mid-range shots and close-ups, the viewer is in the mix of the action, intimately experiencing every moment with the people on-screen. Colors appear quite well-saturated and natural and skin tones appear healthy and realistic throughout. Fine detail is usually high, with fine lines, fly away hair, and environmental particulars such as wood grain and the myriad items on the dinner table open for inspection. I did not notice any defects or anomalies.

Housekeeping for Beginners Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Like virtually everything in Suada and Dita's home, the Macedonian 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio track is not ostentatious or impressive, but it does what it needs to do. Dialogue is clear and cleanly rendered and is front and center focused. Directionality is strong. Sound effects are limited to typical elements domestic life as doors slam, car wheels crunch down gravel roads, and dishes clink. The most ambitious moments that the track must contend with are arguments that devolve into people either slamming or repeatedly pounding doors. Music, while rarely allowed to dominate, is precisely recreated and satisfactorily fills the stage. The subtitles move quickly at times due to the rapid-fire delivery of lines among the cast members in certain scenes and viewers are advised to pay close attention, but the gritty power of their performances is undiminished.

Housekeeping for Beginners Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Housekeeping for Beginners does not have any supplemental material.

Housekeeping for Beginners Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The opening of the film can be quite disorienting as Writer/Director Goran Stolevski drops the viewer into the thick of the action without any information to provide context or ground the viewer. Instead they're left to actively experience these events, piecing things together and sorting out relationships, becoming ever more invested in the characters in the process. The geographical setting of the film may seem unique, but the socio-political elements will seem all to familiar to many, and the performances of the cast enable the viewer to feel their fear, the weight of the discrimination they face, their love for each other, and, in spite of it all, their hope for the future. An intensely human and captivating character study, Housekeeping for Beginners comes highly recommended.