Dragan Nikolic Movies

This gritty, complex period piece unfurls circa 1914, against the explosive backdrop of the early-World War I Balkans. In a Serbian village on the banks of the Sava River (which constitutes the border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), the local population falls into two factions with radically different ideologies: the veterans from prior Balkan conflicts, many of whom are invalids given their war casualties, and the new military recruits - young, strapping and full of vigor. When the Great War formally erupts following the Archduke's assassination, the new recruits of the village march off to the front lines, leaving the invalids behind; many of those who remain willfully and irresponsibly take sexual advantage of the soldiers' wives and sisters. News of this reaches the Serbian High Command shortly before the battles commence; in response, he summons the invalids and places them at the front lines, in an attempt to effectively deal with the guilty parties. Meanwhile, an unexpected romance blossoms between an area policeman, his wife, and a Balkan war invalid. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Serbian director Goran Markovic's über-black comedy Turneja (The Tour), marks an anomaly: a war film that deliberately thrives on its audience's poor recognition of the nuances belying its central conflict; a tragicomedy at heart, it uses its lack of onscreen sociopolitical and historical exposition as an advantage that enables it to meditate on the pointlessness and anarchy of war per se. The year is 1993, the theater some of the dingiest and most poverty-stricken corners of the Bosnian War. At the heart of it all is a Belgrade-based theatrical troupe embarking on a risky stop-by-stop tour of Bosnia, trekking from city to city to city. Listless and bored, they spend the majority of their offstage lives frittering away every second by arguing and playing cards, save those rare occasions when the members march onto the stage to perform a production of Jacques Feydeau's play A Flea in Her Ear. Of the members: ex-husband-and-wife Zaki (Josif Tatic) and Sonja acrimoniously squabble with one another, much to the dismay of Misko (Dragan Nikolic), while skirt-chaser Lale (Gordan Kicic) nurses an unrequited love for neophyte actress Jadranka (Jelena Dokic). Meanwhile, tour manager Stanislav (Tihomir Stanic) drums up the idea of a "hard-currency payday" to keep the locals entertained - not simply non-military personnel, but worn-out, run down troops in the region of Krajina not far from Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Circumstances take a significantly negative turn, however, when an officer with less-than-pure motives suggests (beneath a guise of deceptive innocence) that they give their earned monies to charity and that they politicize and propagandize their dramatic material to increase the morale of men at the front lines. Before long, the soldiers find themselves trekking through the sub-zero Eastern European wilderness, marching from camp to camp to camp and witnessing barbarous acts of inhumanity unmatched by anything in their prior experience. The inability of the men to tell one side from the other, throughout the film, underscores the chaotic mess and ludicrousness of the war per se. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Miroslav Lekic's Labyrinth is about a man trying to start over. After failing to make it through life as a gambler, Petar (Dragan Nikolic) comes home to Belgrade where he reconnects with his college instructor brother, Milan (Branislav Lecic), and old friend Laki (Josif Tatic). After attending a séance in order to contact a friend who killed himself, Petar meets Suzana (Maja Sabljic) whose family has a connection to Milan's work. Complicating Petar's relationship with Suzana is Tomas (Svetozar Cvetkovic), who has always loved Suzana. Tamara (Katarina Radivojevic), Suzana's daughter, also begins putting the moves on Petar. Labyrinth was screened at the 2003 Palm Springs Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

At the time of this film's release, Lazar Ristovski was the most popular Yugoslavian actor on stage as well as on screen, having had recently played Blacky in Underground and the boxer in Bare Baruta. He was the director, producer, screenwriter, and lead actor of this first film about a tender-hearted bachelor who lives a happy life until he learns that his mother has just died. He takes a steam train and returns to his native village. During his journey, he mixes present time and past memories, meets beautiful creatures as well as horrid ones, and experiences picaresque life and death adventures. The film was screened in the International Critics' Week of the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

Nicole Garcia directed this French suspense thriller set in the posh Paris square of Place Vendôme, where the jewelers district includes the firm run by Vincent Malivert (Bernard Fresson) with his brother, Eric (François Berléand). Although Vincent has a top reputation in the field, his British colleagues suspect he fences stolen diamonds. Vincent's alcoholic wife Marianne (Catherine Deneuve), who goes to a classy clinic to dry out, doesn't like the thought of signing papers to transfer the firm's name to other hands, a move that will save the firm from bankruptcy. Thanks to Vincent, she knows of some hidden diamonds, but others would also like to locate the hidden pouch, including the mysterious employers of Kleiser (Philippe Clevenot). The odyssey sends Marianne into boardrooms, past the workbenches of gem-cutters, and on through the hotels, cafes, and diamond markets of Paris and Antwerp. Shown in competition at the 1998 Venice Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

An unpredictable black comedy with an epic scope, Emir Kusturica's highly acclaimed Underground takes a look at the modern history of Yugoslavia through the often absurd misadventures of two friends over several decades. The film begins in Belgrade in 1941, establishing the friendship between the gregarious Blacky and the more intellectual Marko during a drunken, late-night musical procession that establishes the riotous tone to follow. Fellow members of the Communist Party, the friends also share an involvement in shady business activities and an attraction for a beautiful actress. Soon, the chaos of World War II forces them to take refuge in an underground shelter with a variety of other townspeople. Years pass and the war ends, but Marko and the actress trick the others into believing that the war is still going on. Kusturica turns this inherently absurd premise into a vibrant portrait of the contradictory, foolish nature of war. Winner of the Palme d'Or at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, the film received great acclaim on the festival circuit but had a hard time securing a release in the United States. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

This anthology offers five vignettes from different directors and different countries. Serbia is the source of the third entry, "Pigs and Pearls," an emotional look at casual violence that centers on a night guard who is conned into robbing a grave by another couple. In the end, he runs off with the woman, who ends up double-crossing him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this political drama, the manager of a Montenegran factory gets in the way of the schemes of a dishonest bunch of power brokers who get him arrested on phony charges of corruption. No one has the courage to come to his defense except for one factory supervisor, who consequently suffers for his good deed by being fired after several demotions. Eventually the government steps in and straighten things out, but the need for everyone to save face prompts the factory boss to pretend that the manager's absence was simply due to his need to be away on business. However, this dishonesty won't wash with the boss' defender, and he continues to suffer reprisals for his refusal to play the game even minimally. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Both the premise and the storyline falter and ultimately fizzle in this rural drama by Zivko Nikolic. A distinctive fishing village on a picturesque lake is inhabited by hard-working women who support their male counterparts because the latter are too busy to work -- they have to hang out in the local pub, flirt with the waitresses there, and dream of going to America where they must assume they will be paid for their current behavior. At any rate, one young man realizes that the modern era is upon them, and he gets the idea that they should connect their beautiful lake to the ocean by drilling a tunnel through the intervening mountain range. The result would empty the lake and give them rich soil for producing abundant crops. When a blond American bombshell, a second-generation Yugoslavian, arrives from the U.S. to work in the pub, the young man enlists her aid in his dream project. But the men are too overwhelmed by testosterone to think clearly, and soon the village is rift by a blood feud, presaging the tragic decomposition that would tear apart the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. For anyone unfamiliar with the history of and divisions in Yugoslav society, parts of this film may zoom right past, uncaptured. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The Italian The Falcon has nothing to do with the RKO detective series of the same name. This Falcon is a medieval swashbuckler, played by Franco Nero. After several examples of derring-do, Nero sets about to rescue a damsel in distress. Given the Falcon's romantic nature, the girl may not be entirely out of danger once she's rescued, wink-wink nudge-nudge. At 105 minutes, The Falcon has aspirations to be an epic, but falls just a little short. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In a series of humorous anecdotes, the life of a down-to-earth teacher and his class of orphans in a one-room Yugoslavian schoolhouse is filled with the most unlikely events. The class continues between late 1944 to the summer of 1945, and much happens during that time. The school's cook and mascot of sorts is a German POW, the teacher gets involved with saving the grandfather of one of his students from an undeserved retribution, and he gets the gift of a pig in return. The pig, however, may have a brief lifespan as food is in very short supply. As the students and teacher face a lack of food and many other hardships together, bonds are forged which will make it difficult to break up as summer approaches. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Also known as Who's That Singing Over There?, this bittersweet 1980 comedy was released in its native Yugoslavia as Ko To Tamo Peva. The time is 1941: a crowded bus travels over unpaved Yugoslavian terrain. In the manner of Stagecoach, the audience comes to know and grow fond of the various passengers: the lovers, the politician, the eccentrics, etc (each character is played by a well-known Yugoslav movie personality). The film's genial mood is unexpectedly shattered when a Nazi bomb scores a direct hit on the bus. The only surviving passengers are a pair of travelling gypsy musicians--hence the film's title. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Yugoslavia, a tiny little car (a Fiat) enables its driver to slip through traffic and filch parking places with ease. In this comedy, the Fiat's driver is preoccupied by two things: girls, and an upcoming drag race. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide