It's time for another reprise.
I saw this movie late last year but it has been officially released this weekend, so for anyone who missed it:



In all of the films I've watched I don't remember seeing anyone as persistent as Daniel Edelstyn.
Daniel is clearly a fellow with a lot going on in his head.
So How To Re-Establish A Vodka Empire is firstly a story about making a movie about his family's Ukrainian roots.
This is run in parallel with the telling of his grandmother's story through her own words (she is long dead but the family recently found her writings in an attic).
It then becomes a movie about the establishment of a vodka brand.
And in parallel to that is a story about how he and his wife are facing financial ruin as they are about to start a family.
And it's all told in less than 90 minutes.
Thus, Edelstyn's documentary can be fairly described as being similar to everything else in his life - wildly ambitious.
One cannot deny his optimism is infectious, however, and I came away from watching a screener of his film with a satisfied smile.
Edelstyn's picture is one which has been five years in the making. It has dominated not just his life but that of his family and friends.
It all started with a desire to visit the Ukrainian home of his ancestors.
They were a rich family who owned a sugar factory and a vodka distillery.
Edelstyn acts out his grandmother's writings through a combination of old news reels, ham acting by him and his friends and even a bit of animation.
But he does, in real life, make a visit and fall for the land of his fathers.
Then he hits upon the idea of importing their vodka into the and the movie becomes a chronology of how he overcomes hurdles to do just that.
Edelstyn's movie may be disjointed in parts but it is utterly fascinating. The story of his descendants battle for survival during the Bolshevik revolution is one of rare derring-do as is his contemporary one to get his vodka empire going.
He certainly deserves to succeed.
Rating? 7/10