Change Your Image
sttanislav
Reviews
Bal-Kan-Kan (2005)
Everything for fatherland!
9/10
Ruza and her husband Trendafil Karanfilov live together with "baba Zumbula" (granny Zumbula). Even though they have names like flowers, their life is no picnic. They can hardly afford the food for a food fight. But they have even bigger problem; the war is starting in their country.
As much as they are unhappy with the war, their neighbor Dzango Sapun couldn't be more happier. Under his slogan "For fatherland everything!" Dzango tries to enroll Trendafil into the army. Trendafil is not much of a military man. So he and his wife are planning to escape to neighboring Bulgaria. During the escape baba Zumbula dies, and what's even worse her body is missing. Now, Trendafil is on the journey, trying to find the missing granny. At his side is Santino Genovese. Santino has never met Trendafil before, but he is helping in an attempt to repay his father's debt to Trendafil's father.
Movie uses stereotypes about people in neighboring Balkan countries to tell the story of their journey. And the stereotype are used in a rather funny way. My favorite was a "businessman" (war criminal) from Belgrade who goes jogging while shooting from his gun and with an orchestra behind him.
If you aren't familiar with situation in ex-Yugoslavia you are going to miss some points of the movie, but still; worth watching.
9/10
Davitelj protiv davitelja (1984)
What makes city a city?
What makes city a city? What makes it different than a village? Is it the traffic jam? The people who live there? Or is it something else?
According to this movie, the criminals and gangsters define the city. While London has Jack the Ripper, Belgrade has his "davitelj", i.e. the strangler. That's how begins an interesting movie, "Davitelj protiv davitelja" a mix of comedy and horror. It is a story about a guy, flower seller, who turns into a mad man, and commits a series of crimes. Also, we have a police inspector who is trying to stop him. The inspector is getting a lot of help and "help" from a young rock singer and a girl working in a local radio-station. To make the picture complete, there is also a strangler's mother, a character inspired by the Hitchcock's Psycho.
The movie is amusing, I liked it, but people expecting an exceptional movie, like "Ko to tamo peva" or "Maratonci trce pocasni krug", director's earlier works, will be disappointed.
Príbehy obycejného sílenství (2005)
Nice drama
A story about young man, Petr, in post-communist Czech Republic. Petr is trying to win his girlfriend back, and in the process of doing that, he is showing us his way of life, and lives of his friends and relatives.
Too bad the movie is in the newspapers advertised as a comedy. Actually the movie is a drama with few funny scenes. People expect (as I did) to laugh all the way during the movie, but that's just not the case. For the people who speak Czech, and have lived in Czechoslovakia during the communist era, this may be a comedy, but not for the rest of the world.
If you are looking for a movie which does not end with 30 minutes car chase, and it is focused on peoples' feelings, this may be the movie for you.