SLOVENIA FOCUS : ‘Suburbs’ / ‘Eyes Full of Water’ / ‘Peterka’

Published on: March 27th, 2006

Vinko Moderndorfer's 'Suburbs' [6/10]

Further proof that the most extreme movies often have the blandest-sounding titles, Suburbs is an ostentatiously grim/bleak/in-yer-face journey into misogyny, misanthropy and general misery. Sympathetic characters are relegated firmly to the sidelines: Moderndorfer's four protagonists are repellent to a greater or lesser degree, mostly greater. The main character Marjan (Renata Lencer) is an overweight security-guard whose wife has just killed herself. He seeks solace in booze and the company of his three sex-starved, xenophobic pals: they hang out in the local bowling-alley, taking up a lane for hours on end without ever bowling any balls (impotence metaphor, anyone?). To spice up their miserable existence, they use Marjan's experience of surveillance cameras to spy on his new neighbours, a randy young couple from an immigrant background.

Whatever sympathy we do feel for Marjan and his fellow pasty-faced, over-the-hill schmucks instantly evaporates at the halfway mark when they tie a stray dog to a post in an abandoned building and take turns sniping at it with a double-barrelled shotgun. This is unwatchable stuff, and audiences would be forgiven for heading to the exit post-haste – so sickeningly convincing is the sequence, which involves the hapless pooch losing a leg before being blasted to death. Reliable sources* indicate that this was (despite appearances) a special-effect simulation and the dog wasn't harmed at all. The fact that he's cutely included in the end-credits alongside his fellow 'performers' indicates as much. 

But if there's anything in these end credits along the lines of "no animal was harmed in the making of this film," it certainly isn't translated in the English subtitles.** Moderndorfer should really have put a multilingual disclaimer at the start of the film – although this would clearly rob the scene (which prefigures the homicidal climax) of its harrowing, visceral impact. If anything, however, the impact is so shattering that viewers who have remained in their seats may struggle to concentrate on the rest of the picture.

That said, Moderndorfer at least deserves credit for delving so deep into the sweaty, vile abyss of human nature: as a contribution to the cinema of ordeal, Suburbs makes its points with suitable force. As such, it's a refreshing change to the usual run of Slovenian films, every other one of which these days seems to be a low-key study of infidelity starring Peter Musevski. Perhaps inevitable, the tireless Musevski is one of the four leads here, but his character Fredi – a delusional, priapic, reactionary braggart – is so different from his usual sad-sacks that at first you may not recognise him. Decking Fredi out in a sleeveless, khaki, multi-pocketed fishing/army/photographer's jacket, meanwhile, is just one of Moderndorfer's numerous ironic nods to a certain Coen brothers cult-classic: Suburbs is indeed something of Gaspar Noe take on The Big Lebowski… only not quiite as good.


Joze Basa's 'Eyes Full of Water' [6/10]

Though its roots go back centuries, the modern-day incarnation of Slovenia has only been independent for less than 15 years – and, as befits such a "young" country, its film industry is remarkable for the youthful faces sharing the limelight with more grizzled ex-Yugoslav eminences. Mitka Okorn in Here and There delivers an effervescent, irrepressible romp, his 23-year-old peer Joze Basa operates at a rather more sober, austere and reflective end of the cinematic spectrum: his film is so direct, so unadorned, so heartfelt and so simple that you may mistake its simplicity for naivety. But that would, indeed, be a mistake…

Marko (Basa) is a self-effacing young chap, working in a factory and living with his mother (Dragica Kolaric) in a small, scenic town in the rural north-west of Slovenia, not far from the Hungarian border. He's never quite gotten over the accidental death of his father (Milivoj Miki Ros) – an incident which occurred during Marko's childhood, and which is chronicled in the film's prologue. Introverted and bookish, Marko has self-educated himself to a remarkable standard – indeed, he may well be a mathematics genius. But will he be able to convince the professors at Ljubljana university that he deserves a place in their institution. More pertinently, will he be able to convince himself?

Written, directed, edited, scored and co-produced by Basa – who also stars – Eyes Full of Water is perhaps best described as what Good Will Hunting might have been if it had been made by a very young Robert Bresson. Extravagant comparisons? Yes. Basa would be the first to admit that he isn't yet the "finished article" in every single area of film-making: but if there's a more versatile and promising and accomplished under-25-year-old European working within the medium at present, they're keeping a very low profile.

Vlado Skafar's 'Peterka – Year of Decision' [6/10]
 
You don't need to know anything about ski-jumping, to appreciate the merits of Peterka – an engaging, if slightly overlong profile of Slovenia's most famous winter sportsman of all time. Indeed, British audiences who associate the athlete's chosen sport with the hapless Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards are advised to leave such preconceptions at the cinema door. A closer point of reference is with Werner Herzog – back in the news currently thanks to Grizzly Man - who in 1975 made the 47-minute Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner on a similar subject.

Skafar's canvas, however, is broader and wider – his film is nearly three times the length of Herzog's. Over the course of these two hours we get to know Primoz Peterka as he struggles to regain his place at the very peak of his chosen profession – hoping to make the Slovenia team for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The "year of decision" covers 2001 and 2002: a tumultuous period in which Peterka fights back from injury, experiences (along with girlfriend Renata) the birth of his first child, and is followed almost incessantly by Skafar's "fly on the wall" cameras.

"Intimate" doesn't really begin to cover Peterka : Year of Decision, which audaciously opens with a 15-minute sequence showing Primoz and Renata chatting affectionately at a riverside picnic. Skafar demands and repays our patience and attention, crafting a portrait of an individual man which also stands as a distinctive, original record of one particular "sporting life." Neil Young

Neil Young
6th January, 2006


SUBURBS : [6/10] : Predmestje : Slovenia 2004 : Vino MODERNDORFER : 91 mins (timed) : seen on VHS at home in Sunderland (UK), 3rd January 2006

EYES FULL OF WATER : [6/10] : Voda v oceh : Slovenia 2005 : Joze BASA : 69 mins (timed)
seen on DVD at home in Sunderland (UK), 21st December 2005

PETERKA - YEAR OF DECISION : [6/10] : Peterka - leto odlocitve : Slovenia 2003 : Vlado SKAFAR : 121 mins (timed)
seen on VHS at home in Sunderland (UK) , 21st/22nd December 2005

* Dear Neil Young,
About the dog: her name is Zujka and lives in Belgrade, Serbia (ex Yugoslavia). She's a professional film and commercial actress of the professional animal trainers for films – Sirkovic. They, for example, work continuously with the director Emir Kusturica. The dog Zujka also plays an important role in the last Kusturica's movie Life is a miracle.  Zujka trainers were of course present at the shooting of the film Suburbs. The sound, which beside the editing make this scene looks very "real", is made in postproduction. I hope that I answer to your question.
Best regards,
Eva Rohrman
producer

**
Dear Neil,
in the end of the credits – before copyright – there's written (in Slovenian language): "pri snemanju filma ni bila poskodovana nobena zival". This means: "no animal was harmed during filming".
Best regards,
Eva

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Jigsaw Lounge reviews of other recent films from Slovenia:
2000       Not Sponsored (VHS) (Mitja Okorn)
2001       Blind Spot (Hanna A W Slak) 
               Bread and Milk (Jan Cvitkovic)
2002       Guardian of the Frontier (Maja Weiss)
               Headnoise (Andrej Kosak) 
               Ljubljana (Igor Sterk)
               Not Sponsored II (Mitja Okorn)
               Rustling Landscapes (Janez Lapajne)
2004       Here and There (Mitja Okorn)
2005       Divided States of America : Laibach 2004 Tour (Saso Podgorsek) 
               Gravehopping (Jan Cvitkovic)