Film Review: Will Not End There
SPLIT, Croatia -- Croatian director Vinko Bresan's "Will Not End There" ("Nije Kraj") is a colorful, at times moving yet ultimately unsatisfying love story set against ongoing Serb-Croat tensions. Despite incorporating what have become staple elements of many Balkan movies -- brash and violent men, vulgar and scantily clad women and festive gypsies -- the title will probably have a harder time traveling out of the former Yugoslavia, or off the festival circuit, than the director's previous films ("Marshal", "How the War Started on My Island").
"Will Not End There" opens with Djuro (Predrag Vusovic), a gypsy porn actor, commenting on how Serbs and Croats are overly complicated before he begins playing his nose, a twangy tune that runs through the film and quickly begins to grate.
Martin (Ivan Herceg) buys a porn DVD from a street vendor, tracks down its star Djuro and coerces the latter into helping him get co-star actress Desa (Nada Sargin). She lives in an alcoholic stupor in the Serbian capital, where her pimp/producer agrees to sell her for 30,000 euros. Martin comes up with the money illegally and takes her back to his apartment in Croatia to what appears to be a platonic arrangement as he asks nothing of her and justifies his actions even less.
Of course, there's a reason to all of the over-the-top antics and gypsy platitudes in the intentionally enigmatic prologue, which is explained as the film unfolds. It has to do with Martin's role in the death of Desa's husband, a Serbian officer, in the recent war. Thrown into the mix are Martin's former fellow soldiers, now petty criminals, who recognize Desa and want her dead before she eventually figures out who they are.
Sargin gives the most solid performance of the film. Adding depth to her role as a decent woman turned hooker/porn actress after tragedy struck, she is a reminder of how few male Balkan directors offer actresses multifaceted roles today. Unfortunately, Herceg is wooden throughout and offers little credibility as a man harboring a guilt-ridden love for years, although stage and screen star Vusovic is amusing as the super-endowed porn actor whose wife thinks he makes his living playing music in the west.
While the plot is compelling at moments, despite an uneven blend of comedy and drama, it gets tangled up in all the dangling threads of a mystery and revelation that ultimately detracts from a very human story at its core.
Production companies: InterFilm, Vans, HRT. Cast: Ivan Herceg, Nada Sargin, Predrag Vusovic, Drazen Kuhn, Damir Orlic, Leon Lucev, Mladen Vulic, Voja Brajovic. Director: Vinko Bresan. Screenwriters: Bresan, Mate Matisic, Franjo Mogus. Producer: Ivan Maloca. Director of Photography: Mogus. Production Designer: Mario Ivezic. Music: Mate Matisic. Costume designer: Zeljka Franulovic. Editor: Sandra Botica-Bresan. Running time: 108 minutes.
"Will Not End There" opens with Djuro (Predrag Vusovic), a gypsy porn actor, commenting on how Serbs and Croats are overly complicated before he begins playing his nose, a twangy tune that runs through the film and quickly begins to grate.
Martin (Ivan Herceg) buys a porn DVD from a street vendor, tracks down its star Djuro and coerces the latter into helping him get co-star actress Desa (Nada Sargin). She lives in an alcoholic stupor in the Serbian capital, where her pimp/producer agrees to sell her for 30,000 euros. Martin comes up with the money illegally and takes her back to his apartment in Croatia to what appears to be a platonic arrangement as he asks nothing of her and justifies his actions even less.
Of course, there's a reason to all of the over-the-top antics and gypsy platitudes in the intentionally enigmatic prologue, which is explained as the film unfolds. It has to do with Martin's role in the death of Desa's husband, a Serbian officer, in the recent war. Thrown into the mix are Martin's former fellow soldiers, now petty criminals, who recognize Desa and want her dead before she eventually figures out who they are.
Sargin gives the most solid performance of the film. Adding depth to her role as a decent woman turned hooker/porn actress after tragedy struck, she is a reminder of how few male Balkan directors offer actresses multifaceted roles today. Unfortunately, Herceg is wooden throughout and offers little credibility as a man harboring a guilt-ridden love for years, although stage and screen star Vusovic is amusing as the super-endowed porn actor whose wife thinks he makes his living playing music in the west.
While the plot is compelling at moments, despite an uneven blend of comedy and drama, it gets tangled up in all the dangling threads of a mystery and revelation that ultimately detracts from a very human story at its core.
Production companies: InterFilm, Vans, HRT. Cast: Ivan Herceg, Nada Sargin, Predrag Vusovic, Drazen Kuhn, Damir Orlic, Leon Lucev, Mladen Vulic, Voja Brajovic. Director: Vinko Bresan. Screenwriters: Bresan, Mate Matisic, Franjo Mogus. Producer: Ivan Maloca. Director of Photography: Mogus. Production Designer: Mario Ivezic. Music: Mate Matisic. Costume designer: Zeljka Franulovic. Editor: Sandra Botica-Bresan. Running time: 108 minutes.
- 6/17/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film Review: 'When the Dead Start Singing'
Comedy Comes to Croatia / 'Singing' shines in best of anti-war tradition
One wouldn't expect a film from Croatia to deliver a rollicking good time, but that's exactly what Krsto Papic's black comedy does. "When the Dead Start Singing" is a throwback to the kind of absurdist farce in which Eastern European cinema used to specialize, and, despite some obviousness here and there, it's great fun.
Showcased recently in competition at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, where it tied for the jury prize for best film, it could well be a sleeper success on the art house circuit for an adventurous distributor.
The film centers on two Croatian emigrants in Germany seeking to return to their homeland. One hatches a scheme to fake his death and return to Croatia in a coffin, ensuring comfortable death benefits and a pension for his family. Unfortunately, he's being pursued by a mafia figure who wants to kill him and sell his organs to a dying mobster.
The other, who emigrated for political reasons, is still being hunted by a zealous member of the secret police looking to end his career with a bang. A wild series of complications ensues, particularly when the men finally manage to return home, only to find themselves amid the civil war.
Some of the film's humor is predictable -- the supposedly deceased character says "over my dead body" far too many times -- but "Dead Start Singing" is a beautifully constructed black comedy filled with riotous visual and verbal humor in the best anti-war tradition. Director Papic keeps things moving at a frenetic enough pace that you never stop to question the wild plotting, yet he allows enough warmth and character development to prevent the film from seeming overly mechanical.
WHEN THE DEAD START SINGING
Jadran Films
Credits: Director: Krsto Papic; Screenwriters: Mate Matisic, Krsto Papic; Producer: Ljubo Sikic; Director of photography: Vjekoslav Vrookjak; Editor: Robert Lisjak; Music: Zrinko Tutic. Cast: Ivo Gregurevic, Ivica Vidovic, Mirjana Majurec, Kesnija Pajic, Jatija Prskalo. No MPAA rating. Color/stereo. Running time -- 104 minutes.
One wouldn't expect a film from Croatia to deliver a rollicking good time, but that's exactly what Krsto Papic's black comedy does. "When the Dead Start Singing" is a throwback to the kind of absurdist farce in which Eastern European cinema used to specialize, and, despite some obviousness here and there, it's great fun.
Showcased recently in competition at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, where it tied for the jury prize for best film, it could well be a sleeper success on the art house circuit for an adventurous distributor.
The film centers on two Croatian emigrants in Germany seeking to return to their homeland. One hatches a scheme to fake his death and return to Croatia in a coffin, ensuring comfortable death benefits and a pension for his family. Unfortunately, he's being pursued by a mafia figure who wants to kill him and sell his organs to a dying mobster.
The other, who emigrated for political reasons, is still being hunted by a zealous member of the secret police looking to end his career with a bang. A wild series of complications ensues, particularly when the men finally manage to return home, only to find themselves amid the civil war.
Some of the film's humor is predictable -- the supposedly deceased character says "over my dead body" far too many times -- but "Dead Start Singing" is a beautifully constructed black comedy filled with riotous visual and verbal humor in the best anti-war tradition. Director Papic keeps things moving at a frenetic enough pace that you never stop to question the wild plotting, yet he allows enough warmth and character development to prevent the film from seeming overly mechanical.
WHEN THE DEAD START SINGING
Jadran Films
Credits: Director: Krsto Papic; Screenwriters: Mate Matisic, Krsto Papic; Producer: Ljubo Sikic; Director of photography: Vjekoslav Vrookjak; Editor: Robert Lisjak; Music: Zrinko Tutic. Cast: Ivo Gregurevic, Ivica Vidovic, Mirjana Majurec, Kesnija Pajic, Jatija Prskalo. No MPAA rating. Color/stereo. Running time -- 104 minutes.
- 12/7/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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