Serbia

1

Underground – A Madcap Satire of 50 years of Yugoslav History

Underground

Underground Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Why Watch Underground?

  • For a crazy Yugoslav history lesson
  • If you’re a fan of eccentric comedy – also found in Italian films, Luis Estrada satires, and Monty Python
  • If you like a good old Brass Band
From: Serbia, Europe
Watch: Trailer, JustWatch, Mubi
Next: Dear Diary, Cosy Dens, The Marriage of Maria Braun
Continue reading “Underground – A Madcap Satire of 50 years of Yugoslav History”
2

The Load – A Road Trip Through Serbia’s Wasteland

Image result for the load film

The Load Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

If you’re looking for a fun road movie like Thelma and Louise or Y Tu Mama Tambien, you’ve come to the wrong place. The Load is a brutal depiction of a country traumatised by war – it’s not a place where humour exists. There are no bright colours and no sweeping landscape shots. No one really knows what they’re doing, and there aren’t any dreams.

From: Serbia, Europe
Watch: Trailer
Next: Shok, The Trader, Mardan
Continue reading “The Load – A Road Trip Through Serbia’s Wasteland”
3

Stitches – International Competition – SBIFF

In Stitches, a mother restarts her own investigation into the death of her newborn son 18 years ago. She believes he was stolen from her and that he’s potentially still alive. However, she has to also prove the police, her friends, and her family that she’s not insane.

The film spends most of its run time following the mother’s investigation. While she’s investigating, the audience also has to figure out if she’s crazy or not. She’s not the most engaging or sympathetic of characters as she doesn’t say anything to her family or friends. Her face is always blank and emotionless. We can only start to sympathise with her when her investigations are vindicated in some of the records she uncovers.

From that point on, the way she has to try to convince her family and friends of the truths she’s uncovered follows the routine of horror films:

  1. The main character knows something the audience doesn’t.
  2. The audience learns/sees something which makes them understand the main character.
  3. The main character struggles to convince her friends and family.
  4. Eventually, they prove something to a close family member or friend.
  5. That friend or family member shows/convinces everyone else.

However, unfortunately there few things that let down the film for me. Firstly, I was never sold on the main character. Her face is expressionless for the whole film, making her hard to sympathise with or care about. Her actions and movements in contrast to her blank expression were always very obvious and rigid, which made them appear forced and unnatural, drawing attention to her role as an actor.

Secondly, it would have been good to have more background about the mother. it’s not clear why the lady starts the film so depressed all of a sudden. 18 years have passed, so why is she not talking to her daughter and suddenly so concerned to find her missing son again. It would also be good to know why she was put into a mental asylum and how she managed to get out and reintegrate herself into her family and society.

Lastly, I found the editing and cinematography of Stitches a bit off-putting. There were a lot of scenes with one character in clear focus with everything in the background blurred. In itself this works, but these shots were often cut with mid range shots where everything was in focus, making the editing feel a bit disjointed.

Overall Stitches covered an interesting story, but because of the hard to sympathise with feature character, I never got fully engaged in her investigation.