Oprosti za kung fu (2004) User Reviews

very good!

[levijatana · 10/10 · 29 October 2005]

Croatian movie industry (if there is, in fact such a thing) has suffered a lot through the time of consolidation, but the most recent results show certain improvement, at least when it comes to the creative energy that bursts from this movie.

"oprosti za kung fu" is a dark comedy showing the tragedy of primitivism, but also shows the natural humor of Croatian rural element. Places that the director Svilicic chose for filming are great in their nudity, and actors are very natural and expressive. What I appreciated the most is a keen contrast between humorous and tragic element.

When young Mira comes back to her modest home after time spent in Germany, and also pregnant she will be faced with the harsh life back with her parents who desperately try to find her a husband suitable for her delicate situation, of course against her will. Tis will lead to numerous absurd and tragic situations, especially after the child is born.

I really liked this movie and would recommend it as such to anyone who appreciates a good laugh.

Forgive me for Kung Fu -

[elmarjukic · 9/10 · 27 November 2013]

If you like movies with everyday characters in a small-town ( this time a story is set in southern European environment) then you'll like this piece. It's not a feel-good-movie, rather an unpleasant demonstration of old-fashioned way of thinking. The story is not exaggerating anything, coming originally from these parts I recognize the argot as identical and not at all artificial. The performance of the actors is, in a way, a documentary-like in many ways. If I sum it up : Prejudice and narrow-mindedness expressed when something new is coming from outwards. But, at least for someone with my taste, a very interesting line of "how will it continue".

Would be far better as a short

[patchworkworld · 2/10 · 1 August 2010]

It's difficult to come up with positive commentary for this film; I find myself wondering if I saw the same flick as the other people writing reviews. The plot and character development are so extremely basic that the entire story can be well told in perhaps 15 minutes at the VERY longest. That it runs for nearly 5 times that creates total boredom long before the finale, a growing internal question of whether anything is going to happen at the end worth waiting through all that nothingness. And in fact, nothing worth waiting for does happen, leaving the viewer with that I-sure-wasted-my-money feeling.

None of this is helped by the cover design and description if you get the film via DVD or online rental or purchase. They both give the impression that the majority of the story is about the trials and problems of raising a half-Asian child in an intolerant society. The actual story told only touches on that lightly at the end; choosing instead to stretch out what should essentially have been the 10 minute background to the real story into a full length movie.

The production values are good --no ridiculous shaky cam where it is not appropriate, no screen so dark it's impossible to see what is going on, etc-- and the fact that the characters are played by either mostly unattractive people or people made up so as to look mostly unattractive is a plus --too much of Hollywood and its imitators portrays every human on the planet as a perfect(ly unbelievable) "ten" to be taken seriously in any supposedly realistic setting. There is a certain amount of humor in the film, though it's of a kind that is more saddening than really funny, and may be offensive to some --the sort of chuckle produced by a (supposedly) more sophisticated society viewing the silliness of a backward one that practices oppression of its own and intolerance of anyone different while engaging in the same practice itself in a less visible manner.

If one decides to watch it knowing about its flaws the film can be a better experience. As a commentary on social practices (and a few other things, like the dearth of realistic husbands after a war) it isn't a bad flick. It can also be seen as a gentle poking of fun at the society the filmmaker is part of, and as that is not bad either. Just don't see it expecting what marketing promises.

"There are no yellow people here..."

[poe426 · 5/10 · 28 November 2007]

SORRY FOR KUNG FU takes a look at the worldwide custom of lying to save face. Happens in politics every day of the week. When the heroine commits the unpardonable sin of getting pregnant out of wedlock (wedlock being a quaint religious custom whereby a man and a woman are magically "joined" by some supernatural agency), her parents do the only proper thing and tell the neighbors that her betrothed has expired. They then set about finding her a "replacement." The first prospect turns out to be a former soldier whose hair-trigger reaction to a faint sound is to step outside and bag a rabbit passing by. The second is "religiously incorrect." When the baby arrives, the xenophobic family tries to keep him hidden. Rumors persist, and the mother tells any and all that "There are no yellow people here." Watching the parents tap-dance around the kid as fast as they can, one can't help but reflect that the handshake started out as a way of reassuring one's enemy that one's hand was empty of weapons and that the smile wasn't a greeting but a warning to the other guy that your teeth were very big and very sharp.