This film is intended to all people who lives outside the Serbia and Yugoslavia, especially from USA and Western Europe, so I don't agree with Dusan. Sky hook has nothing with nationalism and patriotism, it has strong emotional component. I say opposite, it is strong, and if you are bored with Hollywood - this is the right film for you. My best recommendation, although I don't like Samardzic movies. Good acting especially from Ana Sofrenovic, Nebojsa Glogovac, Nikola Kojo, Irfan Mensur and Nikola Djuricko. Sky Hook is made for assertive reason and it has a meaning. Classical Serb movie in the 90s with solid social drama component with good humor and dialogs. Last scene is very good, but the end could be a little better (more positive). Also, it has some plastic dialogs, but at the end...7 from 10
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matija-trost2 April 2002...movies coming from Serbia in the nineties. Ljubisa Samardzic as director and experienced cast with serbian movie star Dragan Bjelogrlic at the head. And a presence of the war included.
Although filled with small time jokes, emotions, family relations, there is a strong presence of resignation, which finally contributes to sad endings and family tragedies.
But what did you expect? A Hollywood, romance "happy-ending". An American way of breakthrough. Heroes. There are no heroes here. Just a bunch of people stuck in the early thirties between their dreams and NATO bombings, collapsed buildings, tense family relations and small time pleasures.
The leading actor Kaja (Nebojsa Glogovac) was great in presenting above mentioned guys. Likable character with his "champions philosophy" (What it takes to be a champion? To go out on the field when it's the hardest and...won.), which didn't helped him. Sadly he uses his philosophy it at the end and...lose. I could mention the whole cast, but I wont. They were great. No sense of acting here, it's like they already been through that.
I guess that this is one of the reasons, why Serbians made the best war time movies in the Balkan. Rane, Lepa Sela Lepo Gore, and Nebeska udica are the proof. The last one is filled with emotions. Beware.
8 out of 10 -
Wow! I watched two ex-Yugoslavian movies last night and I was amazed by both (something that happens to me only rarely). The first was 'How the war started on my island', a wonderful Croatian black comedy about the start of the war and the second was 'Sky Hook', a Serbian film set in the ending phases of the war. I had almost lost hope that modern cinema can still produce films that can rightfully be called art, but these movies, both produced during and immediately after the period of the Yugoslav civil war proved me wrong.
First of all, I have to say that I have an advantage in watching this film compared to a 'regular' viewer, and that is that I speak the language of the movie fluently. I can therefore fully appreciate all the nuances in the speech, the slang, the dialects, etc. Some of this will unfortunately be lost on non native speakers. The movie is essentially a story about life (and death), hopes, striving and disillusions. Without falling into the trap of using pathos, tears or any other emotional exaggerations, the movie still paints an extremely powerful picture of life in Belgrade in the late 90-ties. The characters are so real, one can really identify and feel for them throughout the film. The depiction of everyday life in Belgrade under NATO bombardment cannot be any better. Lastly, another very positive aspect of the film (very rare for films made during periods of war) is that it gives no moral or political opinions as to the reasons, 'rights' and 'wrongs' of the war. Kudos to the filmmakers for this. The Director, Ljubisa Samardzic, in his debut shows that he could be a Serbian Clint Eastwood. He has namely been one of the best known Yugoslav actors for decades, and has now made his directorial debut with a spectacular film. Well done. -
mycrosparks23 February 2013Being a Serbian myself,i despise all the movies we create cause they're based around vulgarity and meaningless questions...But this movie,this movie is something else...Such a deep,meaningful plot,amazing actors and a great presentation of how times were tough around here (even though i didn't care about that). Only one small little deed,involving a great sport woke up everyone,even those who gave up on life,brought unlikely friends together and so much more.And,it's so much different than the Hollywood movies in so many ways,it's not about the glam and the shine,not about entertainment and humor,to sum it up,it's not about money... I loved it,it's definitely something every intellectual being will enjoy.
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jelena36911 November 2004The movie is absolutely great...It is also very sad.It is about people during the war and things that they do to overcome the fear from war...It is very sad to watch them live like that during the war..The movie is definitely worth watching...Some people lose their lives,somebody lost a friend,a member of family...some families and ex-friends are united again.War does a lot of things to people,this is the movie how some people in Yugoslavia reacted to the war and how they "fought" against it!!!When you watch the movie you ask yourself how would you act and what you do if you were in the situation of the characters from the movie...you learn some thing about life.WATCH IT!!!!:)
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zmyche8 September 2011One of must-see movies, all recommendations!!! True descriptions of the real situation of bombing the Belgrade city. Excellent movie with very strong emotions. Serbian mentality is well explained. Defiance and heroism, courage and bravery. At least what it once was and used to be. One line (quote) i like the most: "for 10 years nothing has changed even for the next 10 years nothing will change." In country of Serbia or in whole world? :D I like it and I recommend it to all. This sentence tells all: Ljubisa Samardzic tells of the tragic experiences of these simple people. Their need for private happiness, their wartime psychoses and rivalries, their attempts to suppress it all by holding onto to daily rituals and their dreams. To pull it off, Samardzic doesn't need grandiose imagery, heroic gestures, political accusations or apply any pressure to the tear glands. His unadorned scenes resonate without falling into the trap of dismay.
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Pancevac18 December 2020Very emotional, shows suffering of ordinary people caught in act of terrorism by world super power.
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xardashade19 January 2022About how foreign forces blindly destroy lives.
War for profit, from countries which have military and gun based economies and never bothered to find their soul. -
anastas-mk3 May 2006There is a great symbolism behind this story. The young kid, the basketball fever and the basket itself, are a great metaphor. I mean, the reason to live, the fact that you are doing something, goes beyond any patriotism and nationalism.
When love meets the fear, when the joy becomes sadness and when you are on the edge, trying to re-discover life..
In my opinion this is one of the few newer Serbian movies that are nationalism-free. They even mention Michael Jordan.. When you put it out of the Belgrade suburbia 1999, you get a perfect story about the absurd, about the war and the devotion to life.
Strong emotion, not pathetic at all. Plus, superb camera and superb music by Vlatko Stefanovski.
10/10 from me. -
nikolaperic-648693 June 2020Nice and tragic story about NATO bombin and terror on Serbia in 1999. It's a story about friends who like to play basketball in the neighbourhood.
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bspupson9 July 2006I'd just like to clarify something about the "Nebeska udica.". The war in question is not the Croatian or Bosnian war, but the Kosovo war of 1999 (March 24 - June 10) in which Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinski affair decided to bomb Serbian cities by means of NATO troops. While the apocalyptic situation in Serbia that is shown here is but the continuation of a 10 year long Balkan catastrophe, the bombing attacks in this movie are those of NATO. For the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) it was the first time it had dropped bombs on somebody since World War II. It was also the first NATO attack on a sovereign country. And also the first American intervention that came about because of a presidential blow-job.
As far as the cinematic experience is concerned, the movie is a bit melodramatic, and the acting only so-so. -
Bored_Dragon26 October 2018For almost two decades I've been in the delusion that this film is based on basketball, which I am not least interested in, and for that reason, I did not see it until tonight. when I realized what it is about, I decided to give it a shot. I did not regret this decision, but I'm not thrilled either.
The film is about a group of young men, their families and neighbors, during the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999, about people who refuse to succumb to despair and try to maintain sanity and an illusion of normal life as much as possible. The local basketball court has been demolished during the bombing and they join forces to restore it and play the basket again, despite the everyday airborne danger. A film about family, friendship, love, youth, memories of better times, traditional Serbian defiance and suffering.
The story is simple, but full of emotion and life. Actors that we are accustomed to seeing in almost every domestic movie deliver their usual performance - they are not bad, but they are far from excellent. Technically, the film is on par with the most domestic films of its generation, but I think that we are all used to cheap production and we no longer pay attention to it. Personally, in domestic movies after the disintegration of Yugoslavia, I pay attention only to the story and acting, and here both of these aspects are above average. I was irritated only by the ending, because I think it is totally unnecessary tragic. The movie sent its message even without the death of the main character, which is, in my opinion, there only as a trick to elicit tears from the audience and to seemingly intensify the power of the film. Two hours of bad movie with a powerful ending will most probably leave a better overall impression than a top movie that fails in the end. The whole movie has quite equable strength and atmosphere, so the final punch felt inadequate and pathetic. I mean, it was pretty predictable and expected, but I was still hoping that I was wrong and that maybe screenwriter intentionally misleads us to finally surprise us with something completely different. It seems, however, that it is quite naive to expect the original plot twist from a domestic movie.
7/10 -
extra_terrestrial28 September 2001It is incredible how patriotism and nationalism are the MAIN TOPIC of Yugoslavian film industry. I find this film extremely boring, with the weak plot, not that good acting, actually, domestic actors always act the same, non stop joking between themselves laughing at the misery when all of them "suffered" so idiotically all miseries that ever happend to us. The film is a bit hypocritical too. Camera is actually the only good thing in the film. Everything else is really dull, dumb interpretation of social gatherings, laughs and cries of the last "war" that hit Yugoslavia. 2/10