Synopsis

After being fired from his job as an art teacher at school, HAMLET ends up facing serious financial issues. He has to bear the “burden” of caring for his mother after his father had emigrated to find work in the chaotic period of the 90s and had, to put it mildly, broken ties with his family and moved to the USA. HAMLET’s mother, SVETA, is ill and needs money for surgery.

After HAMLET is told that he has lost his job, on the way back home, he notices one of his students, HAYK (12 years old), fighting with his peers. HAMLET intervenes to help HAYK and slaps one of the boys.

HAYK and HAMLET start a friendship, and HAYK asks HAMLET for personal art lessons. During one of his art classes, HAYK notices a canvas that features a portrait of ANNA (a woman whom HAMLET sees from his window every day and falls in love with her know nothing about her). HAYK recognizes the woman and tells HAMLET that she is a prostitute. Unable to bear this latest blow, HAMLET starts drinking with the other artists at the souvenir market where he sells his art works after loosing the job. When he returns home, he has a major argument with his mother, swearing at her and blaming her for their broken family and his failed creative career. A few days later HAMLET sees his mother’s condition decline rapidly; she asks him to call an ambulance and he picks up the phone, but is in a state of shock he is unable to dial. His mother dies.

Days later, HAMLET gets an email from a gallery in Los Angeles to which he has submitted his art works a few months ago. The email is saying that some of his works has been included in a planned exhibition, and he is invited to fly to the US. After he gets the news, HAMLET says goodbye to the other artists at the market, who tell him that a stranger had shown some interest in his work recently. HAMLET discovers that the unknown man is his FATHER, who has come to Armenia for a holiday with his young wife and two children. After a brief conversation with his FATHER, HAMLET realizes that they no longer have a relationship or anything in common.

On the way back home, HAMLET looks out the bus window and sees HAYK being chased by young boys armed with sticks. HAMLET immediately gets off the bus and runs in HAYK’s direction. HAYK manages to escape but the young boys notice HAMLET and recall their previous encounter with him. They attack him with their sticks and beat him relentlessly.