"5 Herë Jo"("5 Times No") is a failed attempt at an Albanian romcom that couldn't have been any more of a waste of time than it was...were we expecting more?
The movie centers around Jora and Gjergj, a producer and a director respectively, who have to compete with Klara, another producer of the same television company, for the rights of a most anticipated reality show. To appeal to her family-oriented boss, Jora, a heavily career-focused woman without much of a life outside of work, lies about having a boyfriend and because of lack of options, she has to make a deal with Gjergj in which he's to act like her boyfriend and she's to help him make a movie about the 'everyday lives of Albanians'. Jora's boss then organizes a work trip in which the couple goes through situations that make them question their relationship to each other.
Why was it a waste of time? Well, for one thing, the acting. This movie managed to make Agron Llaka; a seasoned comedian, beloved amongst the Albanian public, seem like a second-grade actor. Donald Veshaj, though experienced, looked and sounded like he was reading lines off a paper most of his screen time and Bora Zemani is genuinely not an actor at all; her voice is way too monotonic and there are no expressions on her face pretty much all of the time. The only main character that was portrayed decently, was that of Klara played by Egla Ceno (this coming from someone who is not a fan of her at all).
For a movie lasting 1 hour and 45 minutes, it does not develop the story or the characters. The plot appears to act like a tide that comes and goes; it's there until it's not because its space is taken by uselessly long comedic bits that do not come off as funny; the movie is trying so obviously hard to make "American/Hollywood humor" appeal to an Albanian audience in the Albanian language and it just does not work. Therefore, the romance is given no time to progress so it gives the impression of being forced and like it comes out of nowhere. Besides that, important parts of the premise of the movie are never mentioned or played out for the public to understand something more, e.g. The reality show they were fighting for or the movie Gjergj was trying to make on the side, which I think if developed, it would've made a really interesting point.
The cinematography is fairly basic for mainstream Albanian movies. The quality is not bad per say but there are some things that get annoying pretty quickly and make the movie look cheap; the very obvious advertising and the stupid looking video montages that come across as if made by an amateur youtuber. The soundtrack is decent but the score simply sucks and in specific scenes, it sounds wrongly used.
In general, it is very exhausting to sit through so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Felt like it had nothing to say and it has no authenticity whatsoever. It is basically just a child of the capitalistic machine that's pulling movies out of its ass because famous faces and incessant marketing somehow sells. Aside from all this, it also left me with a question I feel like I won't have the answer to ever; she only said 'no' once so why is the title "5 Times No"?
