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‘Promise, I’ll Be Fine’ Review: Lived-in Authenticity Boosts an Otherwise Familiar Slovakian Coming-Of-Age Tale

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‘Promise, I’ll Be Fine’ Review: Lived-in Authenticity Boosts an Otherwise Familiar Slovakian Coming-Of-Age Tale

Teenagers will inevitably be teenagers. That’s the timeless takeaway of Promise, I’ll Be Fine (Hore je nebo, v doline som ja), receiving its world premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Revolving around Eno (Michael Zachensky), a 15-year-old in rural Slovakia who learns some hard truths about his frequently absent mother, the affecting coming-of-age tale marks an auspicious feature debut for its filmmaker, Katarina Gramatova.

The drama — whose opening credits inform us was “Inspired by life in Slovakia’s ‘Hungry Valleys’” — doesn’t present a particularly idyllic portrait of its naturally beautiful but poverty-stricken setting. There, Eno and his three male friends engage in the sort of mindless time-killing escapades familiar to any teen.

Promise, I’ll Be Fine

The Bottom Line

An affecting, if dark, story of growing up.

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Venue: Tokyo International Film Festival (Main Competition)
Cast: Michael Zachensky, Jana Olhova, Eva Mores, Adam Suniar, Dominik Vetrak, Julius Ol’ha, Attila Mokos
Director-screenwriter: Katarina Gramatova

1 hour 32 minutes

They sit around eating pizza while making sarcastic comments about the village’s denizens, including the local drunk. They look at 3D photos of naked women on an old View-Master-type device. And they ride around endlessly on their mopeds, occasionally taking the sort of road trip that leads them to such thrilling destinations as a highway McDonald’s. The prospect of an upcoming bicycle race, complete with a cash prize, promises to inject their routine lives with at least some excitement.

Eno lives with his grandmother (Jana Olhova), who brooks little dissent and wastes no opportunity to remind him of the sacrifice she’s making. His mother (Eva Mores) is absent for long stretches at a time, working at some unspecified job in a more prosperous region. Though Eno is desperate to have a loving relationship with her, she constantly makes excuses about why she can’t see him more often — assuring him, “You have my word, I’ll be back before the end of the holidays.”

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Eno’s fragile illusions are shattered when his friends taunt him, as teenagers are wont to do, telling him that his mother isn’t the virtuous woman he takes her to be and that she’s actually engaged in nefarious activities exploiting old people. Forced to turn to her for help when he crashes his moped and breaks its motor, he confronts her about the true nature of her activities when she finally stops by for a visit. The resulting encounter, in which his vulnerability and her deceits are laid bare, provides a quietly shattering climax.

Director-screenwriter Gramatova, working from an original story co-devised by producer Igor Engler, based this effort on her experiences making the short documentary A Good Mind Grows in Thorny Places in the mountain village of Utechka. Several of that film’s young subjects make their acting debuts here, and their naturalistic performances are truly impressive — especially that of Zachensky, whose brooding persona and James Dean-like handsomeness make him a natural camera subject. Professional actress Mores delivers a memorable turn as Eno’s mother, projecting a complex series of emotions in her relatively brief screen time and displaying the sort of fierce charisma that makes fully understandable both her son’s fixation on her and her skills at con artistry.  

Boasting the sort of lived-in authenticity that lends its familiar-feeling story an undeniable urgency, Promise, I’ll Be Fine should enjoy considerable success on the festival circuit and in international art houses.

Full credits

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Venue: Tokyo International Film Festival (Competition)
Production: Dryeye Film, Nochi Film
Cast: Michael Zachensky, Jana Olhova, Eva Mores, Adam Suniar, Dominik Vetrak, Julius Ol’ha, Attila Mokos
Director-screenwriter: Katarina Gramatova
Producers: Igor Engler, Julie Markova Zackova
Director of photography: Tomas Kotas
Editors: Alex Valtr, Katarina Gramatova
Costume designer: Agata Zenklova

1 hour 32 minutes

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Movie Reviews

Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu Review: USA Premiere Report

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Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu Review: USA Premiere Report

U.S. Premiere Report:

#MSG Review: Free Flowing Chiru Fun

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It’s an easy, fun festive watch with a better first half that presents Chiru in a free-flowing, at-ease with subtle humor. On the flip side, much-anticipated Chiru-Venky track is okay, which could have elevated the second half.

#AnilRavipudi gets the credit for presenting Chiru in his best, most likable form, something that was missing from his comeback.

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With a simple story, fun moments and songs, this has enough to become a commercial success this #Sankranthi

Rating: 2.5/5

First Half Report:

#MSG Decent Fun 1st Half!

Chiru’s restrained body language and acting working well, paired with consistent subtle humor along with the songs and the father’s emotion which works to an extent, though the kids’ track feels a bit melodramatic – all come together to make the first half a decent fun, easy watch.

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– Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu show starts with Anil Ravipudi-style comedy, with his signature backdrop, a gang, and silly gags, followed by a Megastar fight and a song. Stay tuned for the report.

U.S. Premiere begins at 10.30 AM EST (9 PM IST). Stay tuned Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu review, report.

Cast: Megastar Chiranjeevi, Venkatesh Daggubati, Nayanthara, Catherine Tresa

Writer & Director – Anil Ravipudi
Producers – Sahu Garapati and Sushmita Konidela
Presents – Smt.Archana
Banners – Shine Screens and Gold Box Entertainments
Music Director – Bheems Ceciroleo
Cinematographer – Sameer Reddy
Production Designer – A S Prakash
Editor – Tammiraju
Co-Writers – S Krishna, G AdiNarayana
Line Producer – Naveen Garapati
U.S. Distributor: Sarigama Cinemas

 Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu Movie Review by M9

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Primate

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Primate
Every horror fan deserves the occasional (decent) fix, andin the midst of one of the bleakest movie months of the year, Primatedelivers. There’s nothing terribly original about Johannes Roberts’ rabidchimpanzee tale, but that’s kind of the …
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Movie Reviews

1986 Movie Reviews – Black Moon Rising | The Nerdy

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1986 Movie Reviews – Black Moon Rising | The Nerdy
by Sean P. Aune | January 10, 2026January 10, 2026 10:30 am EST

Welcome to an exciting year-long project here at The Nerdy. 1986 was an exciting year for films giving us a lot of films that would go on to be beloved favorites and cult classics. It was also the start to a major shift in cultural and societal norms, and some of those still reverberate to this day.

We’re going to pick and choose which movies we hit, but right now the list stands at nearly four dozen.

Yes, we’re insane, but 1986 was that great of a year for film.

The articles will come out – in most cases – on the same day the films hit theaters in 1986 so that it is their true 40th anniversary. All films are also watched again for the purposes of these reviews and are not being done from memory. In some cases, it truly will be the first time we’ve seen them.

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This time around, it’s Jan. 10, 1986, and we’re off to see Black Moon Rising.

Black Moon Rising

What was the obsession in the 1980s with super vehicles?

Sam Quint (Tommy Lee Jones) is hired to steal a computer tape with evidence against a company on it. While being pursued, he tucks it in the parachute of a prototype vehicle called the Black Moon. While trying to retrieve it, the car is stolen by Nina (Linda Hamilton), a car thief working for a car theft ring. Both of them want out of their lives, and it looks like the Black Moon could be their ticket out.

Blue Thunder in the movies, Airwolf and Knight Rider on TV, the 1980s loved an impractical ‘super’ vehicle. In this case, the car plays a very minor role up until the final action set piece, and the story is far more about the characters and their motivations.

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The movie is silly as you would expect it to be, but it is never a bad watch. It’s just not anything particularly memorable.

1986 Movie Reviews will continue on Jan. 17, 2026, with The Adventures of the American Rabbit, The Adventures of Mark Twain, The Clan of the Cave Bear, Iron Eagle, The Longshot, and Troll.


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