Trailer for Love Translated.
Marriage has always been a complicated proposition. Across cultures and generations, finding a mate involves economics, traditions, class, and one would hope, romance. Reserving judgment and providing rare insight into modern-day matchmaking, Julia Ivanova follows 10 men with different backgrounds and intentions as they embark on a 10-day tour of Ukraine, mixing sightseeing and social events geared to meeting single, young Ukrainian women. Beauty pageants where middle-aged men look like kids in a candy shop could become a simplistic social critique of privilege and power preying on impoverished girls, but Ivanova ensures these young women’s motivations are revealed beyond their highly manicured nails and perfumed hair. Love Translated transcends other West meets East/old man-young woman documentaries (a growing catalogue of films) by exploring how complicated relationships get when individual interests clash. Empathy and disdain are felt on both sides of the equation.