Young Roman and his mother Oksana leave Ukraine and go to Germany, where she works illegally while they both live with Gert, an old widower who tries to befriend Roman, who struggles for his mother's attention and sees Gert as a rival.
Acting
Yelizar Nazarenko's dead-eyed intensity — child actors this chilling should be illegal.
Cinematography
Cramped spaces that suffocate; every frame screams 'there is no escape.'
Direction
Marcus Lenz lets horror breathe through silence, not shock.
Director
Marcus Lenz
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Roman's Ukraine-to-Germany displacement mirrors post-Soviet narratives where economic migration fractures family dynamics and identity.
The film's German title 'Rival' doubles as Roman's name in Ukrainian (Роман), making the possessive 'Roman belongs to mother' linguistically inescapable.
DE
UA
