South by Southeast

I must say, that after hearing a radio transmission on, what this Serbian director has to say on regional politics, I was intrigued and led to watch this movie. Well, now I regret it - it simply pursed my bubble.

There are few aspects of this movie that are worth of mentioning both in positive and negative light.

What could one see clearly it's made by friends with a certain carelessness, and that is maybe the most positive thing that this film could offer. The shooting of the film lasted 1 month.

On the other hand, film appears insincere in it's tendency toward imitation of a Hollywood political thriller. While hypothetical young director, in process of making his student movie, could allow himself the mistakes that appear constantly on both technical and contextual sides, an acclaimed, praised director, that M.Petrovic is, just cannot.

For a wider, international public, this film offers even less, because it deals with certain local particularities: Sonja, the main character, is actually a famous actress of 80' and 90' (that now resides in Slovenia) that in her past had a conflict with 'cultural police' of Miloshevic period, which led to her non-presence on film scene. Appearing now in this movie as a 40 year old, deranged woman, leaves a bitter taste and unease. The main problem is that the her character doesn't develop, it implodes. And that is just one of many dramaturgy mistakes.

Than the 'secret-police-governing-the-country' public secret, is well known Serbian cliché, that director uses to put in motion a badly sculpted thriller basis. He introduces characters, uses them superficially, and finally abandons them. We are intrigued for a moment, but do we really learn something? Did Mr. Petrovic open our eyes or just used an easy drama exit?