The opening episodes of Vinko Bresan's new film "Koja je ovo drzava!" ("What a Country!") (2018) (Croatia-Serbia-Poland), written by Mate Matisic, with the surrealistic absurdity of their repetitive tragicomic situations reminded me of Russian avant-garde satirist from the 1930's, Daniil Kharms, and his collection of short stories, "Incidences" ("Sluchai"). A couple of characters, haunted by sins of their past and the awakening of their consciousness, suffer from mixture of hypnagogic and hypnopompic experiences, feeding a satirical tragicomedy that slips in and out of surrealism.
Events, initially driven by oniric experiences, and therefore hard to understand, later on become reality driven, and therefore more meaningful. Use of the historical figures from the recent past of the region, primarily of those whose impact, or lack of it, resulted in the independence of the Croatian state, and the exaggerated events, implying contents which resonate well with reality of life (t)here today, makes us ponder over the essential message of the film: an institution that has failed to meet the expectations of too many (maybe majority of) people, should be abolished, started all over and rebuilt from scratch (?).
Well worthy of commendable comparison to the works of Scottish writer and director Armando Iannucci ("In The Loop" (2009), "The Death of Stalin" (2017)), this movie deserves good attendance.
Events, initially driven by oniric experiences, and therefore hard to understand, later on become reality driven, and therefore more meaningful. Use of the historical figures from the recent past of the region, primarily of those whose impact, or lack of it, resulted in the independence of the Croatian state, and the exaggerated events, implying contents which resonate well with reality of life (t)here today, makes us ponder over the essential message of the film: an institution that has failed to meet the expectations of too many (maybe majority of) people, should be abolished, started all over and rebuilt from scratch (?).
Well worthy of commendable comparison to the works of Scottish writer and director Armando Iannucci ("In The Loop" (2009), "The Death of Stalin" (2017)), this movie deserves good attendance.