Pula Film Festival

Kino Lika

 (Croatia-Bosnia-Herzogovina)

By ALISSA SIMON

A Kinorama, HRT (Croatia)/Porta (Bosnia-Herzogovina) production. (International sales: Kinorama, Zagreb, Croatia.) Produced by Ankica Juric Tilic. Co-producers, Vanja Sutlic, Miro Barnjak. Directed by Dalibor Matanic. Screenplay, Milan F. Zivkovic, Matanic, based on the collection of stories "Kino Lika" by Damir Karakas.
 
With: Ivo Gregurevic, Kresimir Mikic, Areta Curkovic, Jasna Zalica, Nada Gacesic-Livakovic, Dara Vukic-Vrca, Marija Tadic. Danko Ljustina, Milan Plestina, Milivoj Beader, Damir Karakas.
 

Set in an isolated Croatian mountain village, the grotesque drama "Kino Lika" follows three misfits and their problems. Overlong and wildly uneven in tone, fifth feature from helmer Dalibor Matanic ("Cashier Wants to Go to the Seaside," "Fine Dead Girls") invites plenty of disgust but very little empathy for his characters, making pic difficult to watch and even more difficult to like. There's no denying it has something to say about Croatia's turbulent past and current insularity, but helmer's tendency to bludgeon viewers with scenes of Pasolini-like excess will likely limit its travel to the fest circuit.

The three main narrative threads play out against the backdrop of an upcoming referendum on the country's accession to the European Union, allowing the airing of plenty of arguments pro and con -- but the central protags are too immersed in their own misery to take notice.

Story of lanky simpleton Mike (Kresimir Mikic), the village's star soccer player, who accidentally kills his mother with a riding lawn mower before his tryout for a foreign team, gets the most screen time.

The sexual travails of overweight general-store cashier Olga (Areta Curkovic, somewhat resembling Kathy Bates, and playing even more bravely than she did in "Misery") offer some of pic's most uncomfortable moments, including a lengthy masturbation scene sardonically edited for laughs. Rejected by various men, Olga ultimately resorts to bestiality.

Segment involving miserly prophet-of-doom peasant Joso (Ivo Gregurevic, stuck in a one-note part), is the least interesting and well-integrated thread. Joso browbeats his cowed wife (Jasna Zalica) and doesn't seem to care that his alien-looking son is nearly dying of a mysterious thirst.

Adapted from a book of stories by cult Croatian author Damir Karakas (who appears as an accordion player), the script by Matanic and Milan F. Zivkovic would profit from a tighter focus and a more singular tone. As it stands, pic plays like an undisciplined cry of despair that goes for some cheap yuks.

Matanic visually tweaks the atmosphere of human weakness, malice, fear and lack of love with horror-film tropes, including view-askew framing by longtime d.p. Branko Linta and an ominous score from regulars Jura Ferina and Pavao Miholjevic.

Production and costume design also play with genre expectations, creating a village of bad hair, from Mike's Prince Valiant 'do to his friend's mullet to Olga's lank, greasy locks.

Although pic largely prevents its characters from being sympathetic, Mikic makes his guilty feelings affecting, and jazz-singing Curkovic (who nabbed kudos at the Pula fest for best perf by a newcomer) nearly transcends her role.

Pic is full of lively traditional tunes, some played by an accordion and brass ensemble, others sung a cappella by a group of elderly women -- extras from the village of Kosinj, in the Croatian region of Lika, where the film was shot.

Camera (color, 16mm-to-35mm), Branko Linta; editor, Tomislav Pavlic; music, Jura Ferina, Pavao Miholjevic; set designer, Zelja Buric; costume designer, Ana Gecan Savic; sound (Dolby Digital), Dubravka Premar, Gordan Fuckar, Mladen Pervan . Reviewed at Pula Film Festival (competing), July 19, 2008. (Also in Sarajevo Film Festival -- competing.) Running time: 122 MIN.