'The Black Sea' review: Bulgaria shines in a slightly funny film

I've never been to Bulgaria and know it primarily as a picturesque Balkan country, affordable as a location for action movies and the birthplace of tennis star Grigor Dimitrov and Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova. But one film that has made me want to visit (if only to locate the sociability and beauty it so convincingly displays) is “The Black Sea,” a made-on-the-fly comedy from co-directors Crystal Moselle and Derrick B. . Harden, the latter who also stars.

It's a loose, lively, big-hearted story about an accidental American tourist (Harden) who, in trying to return home, attracts a welcome party and perhaps the roots of a happy future. Wandering around an unknown place and making new friends has never been so attractive.

The setup is worthy enough of Preston Sturges to suggest something more spectacular than the charm that awaits us. Harden plays Khalid, a wealthy, money-strapped Brooklynite who is called to the sleepy Bulgarian fishing village of Sozopol for an easy payday: a wealthy local woman who has been told by her fortune teller that she needs a man. black to fix what ails her. (In a brief prologue, when the client asks where to find one, the psychic responds deadpan: “Facebook.”)

Khalid arrives, however, to discover that his long-distance sugar mama has died and that her son, Georgi (Stoyo Mirkov), a town bigshot, won't pay him. All that remains of this eccentric transaction is the part where he is the exotic fish out of water in one of the most remote and white corners of Europe. Broke and without his passport, but infused with a traveler's spirit, Khalid looks for odd jobs (restaurant work, cleaning the marina, painting someone's boat) to earn enough money to fly back.

What he finds, however, with the help of a moody but helpful travel agent named Ina (Irmena Chichikova) with her own unrealized aspirations, is a new community, fueled by a good-natured exchange of cultural curiosities. The locals on the street think he might be a baseball player or a famous rapper (hip-hop's global reach only tickles Khalid), but they end up liking his company. And when Khalid tries the country's cheese toasties, known as princesswas inspired to open a makeshift cafe with Ina, adding her matcha-making skills as an expat from “gentrified Brooklyn” to the menu. The ad becomes an instant hit with the townspeople, especially when Khalid starts a night of open mic, rhymes, rhythms and folk music sharing the moonlit air.

There are films that make use of improvisation and there are those that seem invented on the fly. The overtly hybrid “The Black Sea” betrays the harsh vibes of the latter, but because it feeds off the narrative energy of the unpredictability of a stranger in town, it absolutely benefits from it, like a movie in which you are inverted at the same time. You can enjoy its open kitchen atmosphere. (Like the warmer version of a Borat-style joint.)

The filmmakers' teamwork is palpable: Moselle, best known for the 2015 nonfiction hit “The Wolfpack,” brings her empathetic documentarian's eye, while newcomer Harden (who raps under the name Dear Derrick) , plays the visitor and the tour guide in this free movie. -A fluid story, it exhibits a high-voltage charisma that recent films have lacked. He implicitly understands that a big part of being a star is simply understanding the kind of party you're throwing.

Are good vibes, a beautiful location and an experimental character enough? “The Black Sea,” with its winking title, certainly makes it seem that way. But in one key sense, this gentle, nonjudgmental banter is also timely. In a world increasingly obsessed with the notion of homelands and borders, it's good that a cold song with a message of open arms reminds us that the world is stronger when we can make our best lives wherever we choose.