savked
Joined Nov 2017
Welcome to the new profile
Our updates are still in development. While the previous version of the profile is no longer accessible, we're actively working on improvements, and some of the missing features will be returning soon! Stay tuned for their return. In the meantime, the Ratings Analysis is still available on our iOS and Android apps, found on the profile page. To view your Rating Distribution(s) by Year and Genre, please refer to our new Help guide.
Badges2
To learn how to earn badges, go to the badges help page.
Reviews3
savked's rating
First and foremost, I can't express how proud and grateful I am to everyone involved in making this film. This is a huge step for Serbian, and I dare say ex-Yugoslav, cinema, and it fully deserves praise in that regard.
I absolutely disagree with other reviews that mention bad acting. On the contrary, the casting was fantastic, and most of the actors did an excellent job. This film also showed me how many "cinematic" actors we have, those whom the camera truly loves (the Bencina brothers for example). Let's be clear, this isn't a movie where anyone's acting is supposed to stand out, and it doesn't need to. Yes, there were a few lines of dialogue that made me raise an eyebrow in dismay, but that's negligible. What was truly irritating, loud, and downright ridiculous was: "OBJAVA KULE, OBJAVA KULE" repeated every 10 minutes by a Santa Claus figure holding a vacuum cleaner pipe.
The special effects in this film are either a hit or a major miss. For example, some fight scenes with lots of blood look incredibly professional and have the aesthetic this film should aim for-it doesn't look cheap, which is very important. However, some basic scenes, which have been done countless times in both high-budget and low-budget films, look like a cartoon here. Specifically, I'm referring to the machine gun shooting scene, for instance.
The sound is good, and the music is excellent. My only small criticism regarding the music is that the gusle (a traditional Serbian instrument) weren't incorporated more throughout the entire film, as it is precisely the instrument through which the storyteller narrates the tale.
Where this film earns my biggest criticism-and hence the lower rating-is in its editing, or more precisely the reason behind it: a trend in our cinema, present since the release of "Montevideo, Bog te video", of turning films into series. This film, however, seems to have done the opposite. A 2.5-hour film is paced so quickly that I fear the average shot length would be alarmingly short if analyzed thoroughly. An epic story like this, with a solid concept or at least the ambition to compare itself to films like "Mad Max" or "Dune", should never have allowed itself to be butchered by such rapid cuts, especially since this type of film is appearing on our screens for the first time.
The title of this review, a line spoken by one of the characters to the storyteller, "Tell him to speed up a bit, we don't need to know everything," is the very irony this film has suffered. Quite the opposite-I was drawn into the story and wanted to know everything, slowly and at my own pace, rather than watch a 2.5-hour trailer that feels like a setup for a series. I'd much rather watch this film split into multiple parts than a butchered version made to resemble a series.
Finally, I have just one question for the creators: Fidget spinner... really?
I absolutely disagree with other reviews that mention bad acting. On the contrary, the casting was fantastic, and most of the actors did an excellent job. This film also showed me how many "cinematic" actors we have, those whom the camera truly loves (the Bencina brothers for example). Let's be clear, this isn't a movie where anyone's acting is supposed to stand out, and it doesn't need to. Yes, there were a few lines of dialogue that made me raise an eyebrow in dismay, but that's negligible. What was truly irritating, loud, and downright ridiculous was: "OBJAVA KULE, OBJAVA KULE" repeated every 10 minutes by a Santa Claus figure holding a vacuum cleaner pipe.
The special effects in this film are either a hit or a major miss. For example, some fight scenes with lots of blood look incredibly professional and have the aesthetic this film should aim for-it doesn't look cheap, which is very important. However, some basic scenes, which have been done countless times in both high-budget and low-budget films, look like a cartoon here. Specifically, I'm referring to the machine gun shooting scene, for instance.
The sound is good, and the music is excellent. My only small criticism regarding the music is that the gusle (a traditional Serbian instrument) weren't incorporated more throughout the entire film, as it is precisely the instrument through which the storyteller narrates the tale.
Where this film earns my biggest criticism-and hence the lower rating-is in its editing, or more precisely the reason behind it: a trend in our cinema, present since the release of "Montevideo, Bog te video", of turning films into series. This film, however, seems to have done the opposite. A 2.5-hour film is paced so quickly that I fear the average shot length would be alarmingly short if analyzed thoroughly. An epic story like this, with a solid concept or at least the ambition to compare itself to films like "Mad Max" or "Dune", should never have allowed itself to be butchered by such rapid cuts, especially since this type of film is appearing on our screens for the first time.
The title of this review, a line spoken by one of the characters to the storyteller, "Tell him to speed up a bit, we don't need to know everything," is the very irony this film has suffered. Quite the opposite-I was drawn into the story and wanted to know everything, slowly and at my own pace, rather than watch a 2.5-hour trailer that feels like a setup for a series. I'd much rather watch this film split into multiple parts than a butchered version made to resemble a series.
Finally, I have just one question for the creators: Fidget spinner... really?
So many different characters with so many different issues, yet they are all a family in one way or another. It is a common representation of not only Serbian but Balkan families as well and "slava" is just used as a tool to bring all these characters to the table.
While we are all at this very table, it is never boring which is very important for a debut director to do. A Serbian film that is finally using a camera and not only leaving it to stay on the side and do nothing. There are some "cringy" camera movements like the whip pan that is used in a weird moment and don't bring anything major to the storytelling but confusion, however, I recognize the will of doing something in such a small and closed space.
Great acting from the whole cast, so just another prop to the director and the screenwriter for making the dialogue emotional and entertaining.
Overall the film is deep and has a message, it resolves some issues (reconciliation), some issues need resolving through tough decisions that just NEED to happen (that's life), but also gives us hope, which is very important.
The only problem I have with the film is that it is too long and gets boring at almost the very end, so it should've ended sooner.
While we are all at this very table, it is never boring which is very important for a debut director to do. A Serbian film that is finally using a camera and not only leaving it to stay on the side and do nothing. There are some "cringy" camera movements like the whip pan that is used in a weird moment and don't bring anything major to the storytelling but confusion, however, I recognize the will of doing something in such a small and closed space.
Great acting from the whole cast, so just another prop to the director and the screenwriter for making the dialogue emotional and entertaining.
Overall the film is deep and has a message, it resolves some issues (reconciliation), some issues need resolving through tough decisions that just NEED to happen (that's life), but also gives us hope, which is very important.
The only problem I have with the film is that it is too long and gets boring at almost the very end, so it should've ended sooner.
