Ostavljeni (The Abandoned), 2010

Ostavljeni (The Abandoned), 2010ž
Director: Adis Bakrač
Cast: Tony Grga, Mirsad Tuka, Mira Furlan,..

Stage: Life, movie festival (Kosovelova dvorana, Cankarjev dom)
The Abandoned in short: A drama about a boy that seeks love in the hostile world. How many chances does a child, that is born under tragic circumstances, have? Living in the shadows of the past without the parent love? 13 year old Alen is growing up in the orphanage in Sarajevo, hoping to find his mother one day. As they claim in the institution, his mother was supposed to work in the decade of Yugoslavia fall as a french war media journalist. Alen is working his allowance with small thefts for a local shop manager Sento. As the new manager of the orphanage reveals Sento, Alen wants a pay for his service - he demands his file from him, where the address of his mother is. However, the truth revealed is far different from that one that he expected.

Preps: Seeing this in the "sold out" section of movie festival, it occurs to me that it might be one of the better movies at the festival. Still, the topic about the orphans from the war is intruguing to me and very interesting.



Reality: The movie strikes deeply in the wounds that the war has left. The specific story about identity search after the devastation is truly impressive and so sad it makes me shiver. The children are put in the institution - the movie doesn't reveal whether all of them are war orphans or not but the mere fact of being abandoned by the parents or being left behind is breath taking.
Alen's strong character brings him from one situation from another, finding the way to the heart of the viewer, even though his actions opose to the law. Mira Furlan plays children's "nurse" or better put, children's stepmother in the real sense - being strict and representing a fine thick barrier between herself and them. On the other hand, having a relationship with the donor of the institution makes another point in hating her for being the way she is - uses the situation, on the other hand obsessing about discipline makes children hate her too.
Orphanage in a way resembles prison. The children often become rebels to the system, in some cases presenting this part of their souls in theft (shown vividly in the movie), or on the other hand, as other sorts of crime activity. But in this perticular piece, you are on the side of the children and feel they have been molested or neglected, thus they need to express this in a way. And a deep sorry, you feel for them and what has happened to them. Because deep inside, they show optimism, hope for better life, and a chance they would have to embrace the world, even though it's worth spitting on it from their perspective.


My personal rating: 9,0 (touching, revealing, up to the point. Superb interpretation of children and what the war might swing into later on)


Movie PR about its success in Karlovy Vari

Piran-Pirano, 2010

Piran-Pirano, 2010
Director: Goran Vojnović
Cast: Boris Cavazza, Nina Ivanišin, Mustafa Nadarević


Piran-Pirano in short:Piran – Pirano tells a story about three individuals and how their destinies are unusually intertwined. An Italian Antonio, a Bosnian Veljko and a Slovenia girl Anica face the terror of war as children and each of them becomes war’s victim in their own way. Half a century later their paths cross again and last days of war, fear, despair, love and inexplicable emotions live up again – this time because Antonio returns to Piran to see his place of birth once again before he dies.

Piran – Pirano
The film is set in a town with two names, with Slovenian one and Italian one. In a town where in a house two old men run into each other. Two men who were once joined because of the love for one girl and then separated by everything that separated people during World War II in those places: languages, ideologies (fascism, communism), and affiliation to different fighting sides (aggressors or partisans). It was because of love for the same girl that the young partisan could not shoot the young Italian, and it was for the same reason that they parted while running away from partisans. As old men they meet again, but they still do not understand each other, now only because they speak different languages. Recalling memories helps both of the men realize that this house, in which the Italian lived as a child and was banished from, and in which the partisan found his second home, actually does not belong to either of them. It is only a house of their many memories, reminding them the only thing left for them is to find “a place of rest “. Nevertheless, this is not so much a film of nostalgic past, but so much more about fundamental question: How to die in peace?



Stage: Theatre Vič, local movie setting
Preps: I need to see this as it is one of the most notorious ones at the movie festival in Slovenia, one of the latest movies anyway and directed by one of my favourite writers, Vojnovič. It cannot be bad at all.


Reality: Piran exceeds my expectations in whole. Lately the fashion has been filming movies about the war on balkan in the 90ties. It is extremely rare that the setting on this area is built on the ww2. In this case, this piece concentrates on the actions in the past that have a big effect in the present.

The scene with the both men blabbermouthing about the past and how it was, each in his own language, not being able to understand each other, and drinking at the same time - it is absolutely brilliant. The movie offers many variations or levels of understanding both parties and especially enlightens the problem of the people being on the wrong side, but not by their choice, but because born this way. Still not wanting to have anything to do with war, but paying for the political decisions of the country they lived in.

Anica's role here is somehow most vague - hidden in the clouds. I mean the scenario written for her was so poor that amazed me in negative sense. This young actress has such a potential it is virtually a shame just letting her wander through the scenes without any real text. I was really sorry to see her more as a puppet as an actress in this piece.




My personal rating: 8,0 (depicting past before WW2 is the hardest thing to do in balcan area, since all of newer movies (and the audience) are searching possible topics in the latest balcan war zone.)


Piran-Pirano on IMDB

Official page