previously published on Cineuropa
Although young filmmaker Siniša Cvetić is a new voice in Serbian cinema that combines artistic ambition with general audience appeal, he probably aspires to be regarded as an iconoclast of sorts. Judging by his debut feature, The Beheading of St. John the Baptist (2022) — which was warmly received by both audiences and critics but did not travel much beyond Serbia and its vicinity — and by his new feature, Lilacs, coming to theatres fresh from its premiere in the main competition of this year’s Belgrade International Film Festival FEST, his work is difficult to translate beyond the borders of the region. Cvetić however does not have to worry about Lilacs’ results domestically: the film opened while FEST was still in progress and sold over 50,000 tickets in its first week of release.
Here, he stays faithful to the single-location principle, but the setting itself is slightly different. While his previous film showed the festivities for one family’s patron saint’s day going haywire, the celebration here is of a different kind: we follow the cast and crew of a domestic hit series celebrating their “harvest” of awards at a probably rigged ceremony. Most of the action takes place at the spacious villa owned by the producer (Milutin “Mima” Karadžić), and the question isn’t whether the whole thing will go off the rails, but rather how…
The arrogant producer himself might fall victim to the scam of a “renowned” Russian filmmaker named Oleg (Nebojša Dugalić), who wants to squeeze a considerable amount of money out of him for his own upcoming adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. There is also a fallout between the series’ jaded director (Gordan Kičić, mostly active on Serbian television lately) and a slightly overeager scriptwriter (rising star Pavle Čemerikić). Meanwhile, the couple of presenters — who are actually failed actors — engage in sloppy networking to look for their chances to break through.
But the main conflict that could harm the series as well as future projects is that which takes place between the series’ two star actors, Igor and Katarina (played by Ivan Bosiljčić and Sloboda Mićalović, respectively), who are also a couple in real life. He has committed a double betrayal, first by cheating on his wife with the younger actress Maja (Jana Bjelica), then by not telling her that Maja got the part she coveted in Oleg’s upcoming project.
To a viewer from abroad, Lilacs might seem like a run-of-the-mill behind-the-scenes comedy dealing with the darker side of show business. However, there is an additional metatextual level to the film, powered by timely references to Serbian (and, to a certain extent, regional) pop-culture. The name of the series — which also gives the film its title — comes from a late-80s duo that brought together a Serbian folk diva and a Bosnian pop-star, while the casting choices are very deliberate nods to the cheesy and melodramatic Serbian TV series where Bosiljčić and Mićalović both made their names, and in which they usually played a couple. This is the source of most of the film’s puns, but the casting of other actors and the way they play their characters also fuel the comedy and parody of David Jakovljević’s script.
In terms of direction, Cvetić pays attention to details but does not get lost in them, keeping an eye on the bigger picture at all times. Zoran Jovanović’s kinetic camerawork is an asset, while Tihomir Dukić’s precise editing keeps the unfolding of the plot clear and easy to follow. The Serbian turbo-folk song covers for both piano and brass band selected by Luka Broćić for the soundtrack can seem a little on the nose, but they actually fit well with the milieu that Lilacs portrays and makes fun of.
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