What a Country! (2018) User Reviews

A satirical tragicomedy that slips in and out of surrealism

[Davor_Blazevic_1959 · 8/10 · 6 January 2019]

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.

The stupidest movie, ever

[hrvoje-992-857915 · 1/10 · 12 January 2019]

I can't believe that I've managed to spend 2 hours in a cinema watching the stupidest and worst movie in my life. Terrible :(

Satira s ne-linearnom radnjom i tragikomicnim elementima

[DVR_Brale · 8/10 · 28 December 2018]

Ne treba od ovoga filma raditi kontroverzu jer on to nije. Oni koji to rade nanose stetu redatelju. Prije je potrebno naglasiti interesantno prebacivanje radnje izmedu sna i jave te izmedu onoga sto se dogodilo i onoga sto se ima dogoditi. Kvaliteta ovog filma lezi u nelinearnoj radnji koja potpuni smisao dobiva tek na kraju filma.

Cini mi se da je Bresan odlucio riskirati s otprilike prvom polovicom kako bi mogao zavrsti sa snaznom porukom jer prvi dio ostavlja dojam da bas i ne zna u kojem smjeru treba ici. Cijenim takav rizik pogotovo kada redatelj uspije, kao sto je Bresan s ovim filmom uspio, pokazati da su sve proturjecnosti samo prividne i da su sve suvisne scene bile itekako potrebne kako bi se prica zaokruzila.

Svakako, radi se primarno o drami s elementima vrlo neobicnog i pametno osmisljenog humora. Ne bih rekao da je posebno jedna skupina napadnuta ili ismijana. Citav se film s vremenom pokazuje tragikomicnim jer *sve* strane ukljucene u radnju pridonose stvaranju nereda na koji Bresan zeli skrenuti pozornost sto cini pametnom satirom kojom se najbolje moze ukazati na bolesnu drustvenu zbilju. Kada se to shvati vise nece biti potrebno isticati da je neki film kontroverzan i na taj nacin sve kvalitete staviti u drugi plan.

Tko god je otvorena uma i uz to vidi da je nase drustvo bolesno nece u ovome filmu vidjeti provociranje radi provokacije. Bez suvisnih detalja, preporucam da odete u kino i pogledate film. Ako ne stignete sada, vjerujem da ce biti aktualan i za par godina. Moze posluziti i kao dobar lakmus papir.

Pathetic

[zed17 · 1/10 · 2 May 2021]

Another pretentious and boring film that we are used to from Croatian production.

The film would like to be an intelligent satire, but unfortunately it is just the opposite. Humor is, as we are unfortunately accustomed to, completely pathetic, and every attempt at some meaningful story is lost in a pretentious attempt at satire. In the story, as in most Croatian films, there is no balance at all, just boring clichés that should be funny, but are actually pathetic.

The film can't be taken seriously, as a satire and whatever, and in the end it just turns out to be arrogant in its childish desire to tell the viewer things that are so banal that they end up causing a complete counter effect.

Another disaster that makes no sense to watch.

More Tragedy, Than Comedy...

[velikitata · 9/10 · 31 July 2019]

Great movie for those with basic knowledge of the history of former Yugoslavian countries and mentality of the people from the area.....and for those with an IQ over 30.

Boring without doubt

[missel-p-c · 1/10 · 22 July 2019]

If this is suppose to be comedy I do not wanna see more of this directors movies ever. Too much deprresing, political, boring and boring. Couldnt finish it and I advice people to sustain from watching this boring movie.

Once a drunk always a drunk...

[balintkinga · 10/10 · 12 August 2020]

This statement may be true but let us not forget that drunken people and children always tell the truth and boy there's a lot of truth being told in this movie. It's a perfectly crafted and constructed dark comedy I had the privilege to watch at TIFF a few days ago, that movie which makes me forget to look at my phone, makes me forget that I'm a little bit cold, there are mosquitoes and it's late at night. I enjoyed every moment of it. Yes, dark, surreal, funny, at times suffocating, pleasantly idealistic and profoundly touching, due to the fantastic writing, directing and acting. Also it was/is a haunting experience, a movie that stays with one after watching it, at least in my case it's still here and it keeps me thinking about, among other things the hardship of being a politician (the unimaginable things that one is capable to do in order to keep one's power) and a person at the same time. I imagined my own country's ministers doing the same outraging things that the ones on the screen were doing and I can't help but say to myself that it's not all fiction, or it's not fiction at all, inspiration for any kind of art comes from nowhere else than reality and there's a perfectly matching saying that fits the experience of this movie, reality beats the movies... A dreamlike construction, the story of a son who forgets everything else when it comes to his father, the story of a father who never gives up on his son and much more, the perfect puzzle that ads up beautifully at the end.