El Tío

Watched it the other day in cinema, 'cos I wanted to pay full price for the ticket and show my support for Croatian non-arty-farty film.

I'm ambivalent with what I saw.

Camera work, scenography, the cast that's all good and the initial idea for the story is fresh. However, I didn't care for the characters, their plight didn't leave me at the edge of the seat. This film wants to be a psychological thriller but it misses some key components. It has plot holes and there are some rather unconvincing moments - I don't want to write spoilers.

Maybe I'm too critical, but it's only because I want more of non-arty-farty Croatian films and I want those films to be better.

The movie is not well thought out. It's based on this idea that's a bit extraordinary, and in my opinion extraordinary ideas need extraordinary explanations. Otherwise we could just keep making things up, and that's not good storytelling.

The story is unconvincing, there are so many plot holes that haven't been addressed, or even attempted to be explained.

Camera was good, acting was mostly good (considering what they had to work with), but the story is lacking, and that's something that can't be fixed with nice filmography, unfortunately.

I'm really disappointed, especially after seeing the cast which gave me some hope that it's going to be a good movie.

If you start this movie, and the lack of solid plot throws you off, just stop, it's not going to change, there is no catharsis, there is no revelation, and ultimately there is no point.

I feel frustrated because I had to spend money and time to watch this. It's like you gave few guidelines to 1st year student and told him to write a scenario. Typical Croatian movie: no real story just the idea, few scenes of sex just because they have to put it in every movie, story (we can't call this a story) must be much more worked out, we didn't find out anything about their situation that led to this happening, also in the end they tried to be misterious but it was just poor and lazy. I'm surprised that some very good actors accepted to do this. If a 1st year student on academy did something like this, he would get maybe 5/10 rating. In the real adult world, I would rate it 0/10 if I could. Croatian cinematography keeps rolling in the same direction.

No, this movie isn't a comedy. Horror and psychological thriller, yes. It gets hard to watch it in some scenes, also a little bit disturbing, but, for me, this was the kind of a movie you watch without pausing it or stopping it. In first half hour of the movie it's really hard to understand what's going on. But, if you continue to watch it, well... Then movie get vibes like "Groundhog day" but nooo, it's something completely different. Movie is excellent, watch it till the end. I am surprised, pleasantly with it, but, must say, didn't quite understand the ending.

All in all, give this movie a try. Something a little bit different. Great idea, great acting!

As it began, I didn't know what to think of, which made me confused. After a while it became clear that there's a lot more to the movie than I was expecting or prepared for.

There are no real holes in the plot, as some of the reviews suggest. It all sets into the right place in/at the end - might take some thinking time to figure it out, though.

Reminded me of the Greek masterpiece "Kynodontas", which is a huge plus, so if you're into that kind of movies, you'll definitely like this one.

I'll have to repeat the title and say that, although slightly disturbed, I was... -pleasantly surprised.