Venice 2023 Review: “Housekeeping for Beginners”

“A gay man and a lesbian woman walk to the altar together” might sound like the setup for a joke, but in Goran Stolevski’s serious drama “Housekeeping for Beginners,” it’s a central moment in a jarring journey into the world of marginalized people in contemporary North Macedonia. Making a return to his motherland after having directed two successful queer features in Australia, Stolevski brilliantly maneuvers through the intersecting lines of discrimination faced by the LGBTQ+ and Roma communities, delivering a daring portrayal of a group of people who do not fit in.