BBFF Dispatch # 3: Renovation and Rolling Papers

The Boston Baltic Film Festival runs from Friday, 2/27  through Sunday, 3/1 at the Emerson Paramount Center, and through 3/23 virtually. Click here for the schedule and ticket info, and follow along with my multi-outlet coverage at Boston Hassle and There Were No Gods Left.

Renovation

I was a year younger and lived somewhere else the first time I saw Gabrielė Urbonaitė’s Renovation. Now, I’m a year closer to 30 and just moved out of the hotel where I lived for almost two weeks while intense repairs were being made to my new apartment. As miserable as the whole affair was, it may be worth it simply for the way Urbonaitė’s film resonates with me even more. I adored the Lithuanian romantic drama the first time. It finished pretty high on my list of the 10 Best Films of 2025. The second time around, I am convinced it is a masterpiece.

Žygimantė Elena Jakštaitė plays a young woman named Ilona in Vilnius on the eve of breaking into the tricenarian club. The work-from-home Norwegian translator just moved into an apartment with her boyfriend, and major building renovations disrupt her workday. A hot Ukrainian man named Oleg (Roman Lutskyi) on the construction team tempts her during the day while her partner, to whom she isn’t positive about committing, is at work. The scandalous and infatuating romantic pickle teaches her a lot about herself, her desires, and her vision for her future.

Like Ilona, I too work from home. The month-long repair work on my own apartment, before the extra two weeks in a hotel, was a major disruption. (There were no attractive Ukrainians, though.) The metaphors of both a new place and renovation for turning a new page in life work so well it’s a wonder they aren’t overdone tropes. Ilona’s life is familiar and new, safe and scary, dull and exciting all at the same time—and the frustration of the new move to a building in construction pulls this out in a way a more ordinary context wouldn’t. Construction also contradictorily implies both repair and improvement, a nuance perfectly suited to capture her turning point.

Lithuanian director Urbonaitė (an Emerson grad) creates a world which feels as if the characters actually live there. Even Ilona’s oversized-hoodie-and-messy-bun vibe make her relatable. The warm 16mm adds a used texture to the cinematography. The books, dishes in the background, and magnets on the fridge could have stepped out of any of our homes and into Ilona’s. She even has racist neighbors! Their problems are also recognizable to any of us: indecisiveness, aging, insecurities, love, infidelity. You don’t have to be turning 30 soon or experience an apartment trauma of your own to find Renovation relatable. 

Continue reading at the Boston Hassle. 

Rolling Papers

Much like Renovation, the Estonian mumblecore Rolling Papers follows a character at a crossroads. Sebastian (Mihkel Kuusk) has no direction in life. He works (not too hard) at a convenience store—one of cinema’s great symbols of the deadbeat—and becomes friends with Silo (Karl Birnbaum), who also lacks ambition. They dream of leaving Estonia for Brazil. 

The weather, it seems, is the primary instigator for their dreams of escape (and not the aggressive empire to the east or any real social issue). Brazil is not just warmer though. It’s also much bigger… and it’s almost big enough for the ambitious dreams that neither of them actually have. They waste their time together smoking weed and listening to Soundcloud aesthetic stoner music, reminiscent of the humor in director Meel Paliale’s first film Tree of Eternal Love (which played at the 2023 Boston Baltic Film Festival).

I found Rolling Papers more compelling not as a comedy but as an indie romance. Sebastian strikes up chemistry with Nora (Maria Helena Seppik) and the film makes a tonal pivot with the couple. The music largely cuts and the comedy cuts back. They are sweet and compelling together, even though things are never perfect between them, and it’s in no small part because of how real they feel together. A meandering scene of them watching an old Hollywood film with Nora’s dad—and then, losing track of time in the streets afterwards like young loves—illustrates their endearing chemistry. Every snap back to Sebastian and Silo comes with a little regret for time lost with Nora.

Continue reading at the Boston Hassle.