previously published on Cineuropa
Just over four years ago, Marko Đorđević brought innovations to Serbian cinema, both in terms of milieu and style, with his debut feature My Morning Laughter. Set in and around the city of Kragujevac in the central part of the country and among ordinary people who were not lucky or unscrupulous enough to move forward with their life, the film portrayed both the place and its characters without romanticising them or adopting a condescending attitude, espousing instead a particularly austere, naturalistic style of predominantly long, static takes.
On his new film, he reunites with most of his cast and crew from that solo feature-length debut and returns to Kragujevac and to the realm of “normal” people. The stakes are a bit higher and the task seems a little harder, because Enough for Now could be described as a film about “nothing.” However, the film has won two awards at Belgrade International Film Festival FEST, where it premiered, confirming Đorđević’s status as an auteur to keep an eye on.
The film’s silhouette of a plot unfolds over a course of a couple of weeks in the early summer and revolves around a family “clan” consisting of three siblings. Moca, our protagonist (Filip Đurić, star of My Morning Laughter), is a doctor at the local hospital and single father to a precious little girl, Marta (newcomer Miona Pejković). They share the family house with Moca’s sister, Višnja (Ivana Vuković, Đurić’s main screen partner in Đorđević’s previous effort). The ritual of baking their favourite dessert, the coco cubes, summons Moca’s and Višnja’s brother, Vasa (Nikola Rakočević, star of numerous Serbian films), who is trying to make it as an actor in Belgrade.
A string of low-intensity events unfolds. Their childhood acting teacher has recently passed away and all three appear at his commemoration at the local theatre. Moca takes time off from work and tries to relax, but he also has to overcome his fear of driving. His best friend’s daughter, Vanja (Milica Jovović), is coming from Bosnia to take the entrance exam for studies in Kragujevac, and the family decides to drive her back home afterwards in order to visit her father, Duško (Croatian actor Goran Bogdan). All the time, the family dynamic is overly playful, even a little childish, signalling that there might be things unspoken between them, if not outright secrets.
The way Đorđević handles that “secret” until the moment of its revelation can be rather frustrating, in large part because it can be guessed at quite easily. He nevertheless manages to turn his film into a cathartic experience by the end. Đorđević relies extensively on his actors, their improvisation and mutual chemistry — which does not always always go smoothly, especially when more famous actors have to adapt to the rhythm dictated by the leading duo.
Style-wise, Enough for Now is definitely breezier and more playful than Đorđević’s previous work, with Stefan Milosavljević’s camerawork more fluid in capturing the film’s summer tones, Lara Bunčić’s compellingly cramped production design, and Jelena Anđelković’s colourful costumes. The music in different shades of pop, written by Sofija Milutinović, is also suitable, while one particular scene, a car chase that essentially comes out of nowhere, turns out to be a total delight and a perfect showcase for Đorđević’s varied talent.
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