Jesen u mojoj ulici

It was a breath of fresh air to finally see a Novi Sad movie come out after a couple of decades. Pušić's Jesen u mojoj ulici (Autumn in My Street) takes a look at the city suburb of Detelinara and the two protagonists' efforts to get the money to go to the seaside - something they promised each other they'd do since they were in primary school. The title is from a primary school assignment that has been a typical one for decades - it is something Promaja, one of the two lead characters comments existentially as "nothing ever happens here". But something actually does.

The railway that meanders in between the building blocks is the metaphor of what makes Kuče and Promaja, the leads, who they are. The suburb and the life in has treated them similarly, however different in their essence they may be. As their childhood friendship is put to the test in several episodes involving Promaja's love interest Milica, other neighborhood characters, from the shady to the elderly, they struggle to pawn off a Polaroid camera to fund their long awaited Montenegrin vacation.

With several wonderful comedic elements and a couple of memorable performances, the best part of the movie for me was the actual twist, something that cut through the painful and the blissful entourage of characters and their impact on the story. It is exemplified in the second appearance of the granny-photographer: she has exactly the same lines as in the beginning of the story, but the story has profoundly changed since then, so that as much and hard as I laughed at her going through her old photographs she carries around with her in her debut, I later choked on every giggle I had made.

From comedy to drama and back again, Jesen u mojoj ulici is just that - a great engaging movie. Oh, and kudos on the one-shot scene in which we see the character of Coba, and for the art direction and cinematography.