Back in the 1980s rock'n'roll and movies frequently overlapped in Serbia, and it's a joint effort of this kind that gave birth to "Kako je propao rokenrol". Other similar colaborations gave us 1981's "Decko koji obecava" and to a lesser extent "Davitelj protiv davitelja", both also quality movies.
This film consists of 3 independent stories tied together by a Master of Ceremonies of sorts named Green Tooth (famous Belgrade musician and personality Dusan 'Koja' Kojic's alter ego) who appears at the beginning of each one. They all tell tales of Belgrade's cynical teenagers and young adults living their mostly urbane and hip existences, centered around making music or in certain cases merely looking different and acting against the norm. However, the problems they're forced to deal with are more earthly in nature and they include:
- finding a catchy hook to sell avantgarde underground music to a populous that prefers folk,
- paying the rent and getting your life together before your wife gives birth
or in case of the guy from 2nd story
- simply getting a girl to put out without any commitment expectations, etc...
Movie was made as kind of a showcase for young Serbian and Yugoslav writers and directors coming up in the late 1980s, who contributed these stories in hopes of getting their names and work more exposure. And while their talents were certainly shown in good light here, none of them, unfortunately, went on to notable careers in film making.
All 3 stories have plenty of charm, wit and good dialogue to merit a strong recommendation. Combining two generations of Serbian actors as kind of on-screen adversaries competing for bragging rights also works very well and it's fabulous to watch as an underlying dynamic.
Great music too, courtesy of a Belgrade band 'Elektricni orgazam'.
