A Film a Week - Mali

previously published on Cineuropa

Oddly enough, the last and the most eagerly awaited world premiere at this year’s edition of the Pula Film Festival, Mali, written and directed by Antonio Nuić (All for Free, Donkey, Life Is a Trumpet), is a sequel of sorts. Or, more accurately, an instalment in his series of shorts and features about the same characters. They were introduced in one of his student shorts, rising to national fame in the final chapter of the well-received triptych Sex, Drinks and Bloodshed, on the topic of football hooliganism in Croatia, where a night of game-watching among friends veers off in an unpredictable direction, unearthing dangerous secrets.

Some 13 years later, the child seen as a baby in the previous film, Mali (mesmerising newcomer Vito Dijak), is about to finish primary school. His mother, Martina (not seen in the film), is dying of cancer in hospital, and his father, Frenki, played by Vito’s real-life father Franjo Dijak (Goran), has come back from jail a changed man – not exactly leaving his criminal ways behind, but becoming more savvy about them. The trouble is that as soon as Martina dies, her parents will sue Frenki to gain custody of Mali and probably win the case, even though the boy has been doing much better in life since his father got back, improving his grades, behaving better and nurturing his chess skills. However, Frenki has a plan that not only involves testimonies from the staff at Mali’s school, but also from his new business partners, his sleazy lawyer friend Vladek (Robert Ugrina) and dirty cop Majić (Živko Anočić), as well as his loser mates Boki (Bojan Navojec), Raks (Rakan Rushaidat) and Kečo (Hrvoje Kečkeš). Meanwhile, overly violent cop Slišković is on his tail.

In Mali, Nuić disaffirms the “Hitchockian” theory of “drama as life with the dull parts cut out”. Pretty much all we see are people immersed in ordinary situations and rituals: chit-chat, buddy-to-buddy banter, drinking, doing drugs, enjoying a birthday party and a field trip, all of which is slotted into a compelling crime storyline, while the supposed action takes place off screen. Its “Croatian Usual Suspects” label might ensure that it gets some time on the festival circuit before it opens domestically in winter 2019.

This lean, 90-minute film works better than expected for such an ambitious crime-drama transposed to a Croatian setting thanks to Nuić’s precise writing, dialogue that blends gritty realness and effortless cool, and his sure-handed directing that uses the skills of the crew (consisting of his usual collaborators) to the maximum. Radislav Jovanov Gonzo’s cinematography (varying the colour palette to match the location, whether urban or rural, and changing the length of the shots to match the mood) is impressive, as is Hrvoje Štefotić’s pulsating, tension-inducing original score.

The actors are also employed masterfully. Franjo Dijak, Rakan Rushaidat, Bojan Navojec and Hrvoje Kečkeš have certainly played some part in creating their characters together with Nuić from their student times on. Now, the “gang” has been reinforced by Robert Ugrina and Živko Anočić (doing a good job of being both scary and smart at the same time), and especially by Vito Dijak, whose measured, controlled performance is rarely seen in child actors. He might just represent the bright future of the Croatian acting scene, while his character is, ironically, the very dark, dystopian future of Croatian society if trends such as risky yet highly organised crime and corruption continue to grow.

A Film a Week - Aleksi

previously published on Cineuropa

World-premiering as the opening film in the national competition at the Pula Film Festival, the debut feature by Croatia’s Barbara Vekarić, Aleksi, is being marketed as something quite new in contemporary national cinema: an indie-style dramedy that tackles the topic of “the second coming of age” and figuring out life goals on the brink of one’s thirties, in a realistic fashion. Strong social-media campaign aside, Aleksi is a bit of a let-down, although it is quite enjoyable in parts.

The title character, played in stunning fashion by Tihana Lazović (The High Sun), is a typical movie millennial: after a few attempts at studies and internships abroad, she comes back to her parents’ (played by Serbian actors Aljoša Vučković and Neda Arnerić) coastal home on the Pelješac peninsula. While dodging a job in the family wine business and waiting for a response to her latest application for yet another internship in Berlin, she spends her time posing as an abstract photographer, hanging out with her cousin Lea (Nataša Janjić) and weighing up relationship prospects with three very different men.

The first, Goran (Lazović’s The High Sun partner Goran Marković), is a local musician to whom she feels an instant attraction, but she is repulsed by his somewhat conservative ideas about roles in a relationship. Then we have an older, rich playboy, Tony (played by Slovenia’s Sebastian Cavazza), who will take her yachting or give her the very best cocaine, but he does not seem too keen on anything more than just fooling around. Finally, there is a fellow photographer, Chris (Jason Mann), an American she met by chance on a ferry, who shares her interests, but whose overly benevolent attitude serves as a turn-off.

The idea is basic enough, done to death in US indie cinema and also not all that new to Croatia (see Nevio Marasović’s similarly themed Comic Sans). However, whereas that movie succeeds in elevating the story above the trope-based characters, Aleksi kind of fails. Not having an actual story to tell (other than following the string of low-intensity events) would be fine if the characters had been written in more detail. Chris and Tony are basically non-entities, Lea comes and goes as dictated by the whims of the screenplay, and a strict mother and a more lenient father are global cinematic clichés.

Neither is the character of Aleksi particularly well written. Sometimes she seems like a collection of quirks elevated only by Tihana Lazović’s “all in” style of acting that gives the impression she wrote it herself. That works up to a point, especially in the scenes that she shares with Goran Marković, which are brimming with acting chemistry, physical attraction and verbal banter, thus cementing their status as the Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper of Croatian cinema. Vekarić’s only attempt at commentary on masculinity and femininity is relegated to the extended usage of bodily fluids and the things Aleksi does with her body hair.

Tihana Lazović is brilliant throughout, Goran Marković also has his moments, and director Vekarić has some interesting ideas, such as employing a sound scheme consisting of street noise, an original score by Jure Ferina and Pavle Miholjević, and some additional music, both domestic and foreign. The overall look is also pretty decent, and the standard hand-held camerawork is enriched by DoP Filip Tot’s smart use of the vivid Mediterranean colour palette.