The Black Sea (2024)

Being a stranger in a strange land can be an uncomfortable, exasperating experience. At the same time, though, it can also be just what one needs, especially for those seeking to turn their lives around. Such is the case with Khalid (actor-director Derrick B. Harden), a genial, ambitious, opportunistic African-American dreamer from Brooklyn who, sadly, just doesn’t seem to be able to get his act together. But, when he’s offered a lucrative new opportunity – one he finds on Facebook of all places – to relocate to Sozopol, a small Bulgarian resort town on the Black Sea coast, to become the “companion” of a woman in desperate “need” of finding a Black man (on the advice of a fortune teller), he jumps at the chance. There’s just one hitch – hours before his arrival, she dies, thereby stranding him without his payment and the means to return home. Those circumstances are further complicated when his passport is stolen, leaving him stuck and unable to book a flight back to the US. He thus reluctantly becomes reconciled to the idea of having to stay put for a while as he attempts to sort out his circumstances. However, the more time he spends in his unexpected new home, the more he finds himself easily fitting in and making friends with the locals, especially Ina (Irmena Chichikova), the owner of a travel agency and his eventual business partner in a popular café/night spot. And, except for some menacing dealings with a powerful local godfather (Stoyo Mirkov) who’s accustomed to being the community’s top dog (and resents being upstaged by the popular new arrival), things generally go well for the unwitting transplant. But will they stay that way? Directors Harden and Crystal Moselle have put together a real charmer in this warm, funny comedy-drama chronicling the evolution of an infectiously likable character beset with a seemingly impossible challenge but who aggressively hustles to successfully make lemonade out of the big bushel of lemons that’s been handed him. The story’s focus on a hapless but amiable everyman who’s unceremoniously marooned in a wholly unfamiliar setting (one that most American viewers are also likely unfamiliar with) in which he doesn’t speak the language gives this film a distinctive character all its own, a refreshing development in light of the current sagging state of the domestic movie industry. Despite some occasional narrative meandering, this offering is otherwise a real gem, a heartwarming comedy in which one can’t help but pull for the underdog, no matter how much he might slip up or inadvertently get in his own way. “The Black Sea” is indeed a rare find, one that now genuinely deserves to have an audience find it.