"I'm doing it for the girls and the gays, she said in the film's opening moments as she recorded her audition tape, adding that her taste is old world trash and treasure. She sees fashion as a way of being someone new, every day. Given how awful her life is-Margarita lives with her grandmother, Gita, her just-out-of-jail father, Samuel, and her hot brother, Nerses, in a too-small apartment that often lacks running water-who can blame her?"
"Idiotka picks up when Margarita is encouraged by producer Nicol Garcia to participate in the unscripted fashion competition series hosted by Oliver Knowles. Nicol wants Margarita to pull back the curtain on her life to get her authentic self-and manic family-on screen. The trouble is that Samuel wants nothing to do with the series. An extended subplot has Nicol pushing Margarita to get his signature to use the footage of him or she will be cut from the show."
"Director Nastasya Popov, who cowrote the film with Tess Cohen, gently skewers fashion reality TV competition shows, with catchphrases and challenges such as one that uses yuzu as a design element. The satire is broad, and Idiotka coasts by on its charm and Margarita's desperation. For one contest, she creates a glamorous outfit that showcases her response to her father's orange prison jumpsuit."
Idiotka follows Margarita Levlansky, a downtrodden fashion designer living in West Hollywood's Russian section with her grandmother, recently released father, and brother in a cramped apartment. She auditions for Slay, Serve, Survive, a fashion competition reality show, hoping to win $100,000 to help her struggling family. Producer Nicol Garcia encourages Margarita to participate and showcase her authentic life on screen, but her father Samuel refuses to cooperate, creating conflict over footage rights. Director Nastasya Popov gently satirizes fashion reality TV competition shows through broad humor and catchphrases. The film relies on charm and Margarita's desperation, with her creating designs that reflect her difficult circumstances, though the humor generates only modest laughs.
Read at San Francisco Bay Times
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