I saw this film yesterday at the Seville European Film Festival and was blown away by the time the film had ended--and not to mention sobbing like a baby! Though it takes a little bit of time to get into, once the movie gets going there's nary a dull moment--though it does help if you read the summary first, and know that the father is Croation and the mother Serbian and some background perhaps of Yugoslavia to fully understand the film.
Basically this film is the story of a 9-year old boy named Goran in communist 1970s Yugoslavia whose life seems peaceful enough, with an eclectic and colorful family, until his parents' marriage begins to fall apart, and they finally file for divorce. To make things harder, his father immediately begins dating a colleague from work, and not long after that the father of Goran's best friend gets in trouble for some anti-Yugolavian activism and has to flee with his family. Then more tragedy strikes.....
In short this is a moving family drama whose interesting plot is complemented by good acting (even though the lead children were not professional actors) and accented by a beautiful score which seems to me to be influenced by ethnic music, though I am no expert and thus can't say for sure. I really hope that this film is released internationally, especially in the US, since I think it deserves to be seen in more places. Just make sure you bring some tissues!
Basically this film is the story of a 9-year old boy named Goran in communist 1970s Yugoslavia whose life seems peaceful enough, with an eclectic and colorful family, until his parents' marriage begins to fall apart, and they finally file for divorce. To make things harder, his father immediately begins dating a colleague from work, and not long after that the father of Goran's best friend gets in trouble for some anti-Yugolavian activism and has to flee with his family. Then more tragedy strikes.....
In short this is a moving family drama whose interesting plot is complemented by good acting (even though the lead children were not professional actors) and accented by a beautiful score which seems to me to be influenced by ethnic music, though I am no expert and thus can't say for sure. I really hope that this film is released internationally, especially in the US, since I think it deserves to be seen in more places. Just make sure you bring some tissues!
