Moira

There's a drama or two like Levan Tutberidze's Moira at almost every film festival. Gritty, family affairs that are steeped in social realism that often involve one of the younger clan members forced into a decision they are almost certain to regret. This is a solid example of its type - and the Georgian nominee for the foreign language Oscar - and yet it's almost certain to become another festival journeyman, easily forgotten when the next bleakly similar offering shows up.

Tutberidze has the unusual setting of coastal Tblisi and a good cast to his advantage, though, particularly Paata Inauri who takes on the central role of Mamuka, a man just released from prison for a crime it seems unlikely to have masterminded. He has a gentle, earnest air and just wants to do the right thing for his disabled father (Zaza Magalashvili) and younger brother Shota (Giorgi Khurtsilava), which includes trying to raise enough cash to help his mum (Ketevan Tskhakaia) - away singing in Greece to support the family - come home.

The possibility of hope takes the shape of Moira, the boat of the title, which Mamuka and Shota buy, getting - as is inevitable with this type of drama - into debt in the process. But striking it lucky with fish seems unlikely to give Shota the quick cash he craves in order to convince the family of his girlfriend (Ani Bebia) that he's the perfect catch - and so the temptations of darker waters beckon.

While the return of the young men's mother ought to inject an element of the unexpected into proceedings, it feels less a revelation and more like the cogs slotting neatly into the places we always thought they might. Inauri does what he can with Mamuka's inner conflict but with the exception of the brothers, the characters are as flat and grey as the film's colour palette, necessary only in respect of nudging the narrative along as it lumbers through increasingly familiar paces to a foregone conclusion.