Lazar Ristovski 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

Actor Daniel Craig assumes the role formerly occupied by such screen greats as Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Timothy Dalton to set out on the character's very first 007 mission. James Bond has earned his "00" status by masterfully executing a pair of death-defying professional assassinations. Now assigned the task of traveling to Madagascar to spy on notorious terrorist Mollaka (Sebastien Foucan) for his maiden voyage as a 007 agent, Bond boldly goes against MI6 policy to launch an independent investigation that finds him traversing the Bahamas in search of Mollaka's notoriously elusive terror cell. Subsequently led into the company of the mysterious Dimitrios (Simon Abkarian) and his exotic girlfriend, Solange (Caterina Murino), Bond soon realizes that he is closer than ever to locating well-guarded terrorist financier Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), the man who has personally bankrolled some of the most prevalent terrorist organizations on the planet. When Bond learns that Le Chiffre is planning to partake in an upcoming high-stakes poker game to be played at Montenegro's Le Casino Royale and use the winnings to establish his financial grip on the globe, M (Judi Dench) assigns beguiling agent Vesper (Eva Green) the task of watching over the fledgling agent as he plays against Le Chiffre in a covert attempt to destroy the nefarious gambler's well-established monetary stronghold in the underworld once and for all. Bond will need more than his legendary gambling skills in order to win this dangerous game, though, and after allying himself with local MI6 field agent Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) and CIA operative Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), the endlessly suave super-spy puts on his poker face for a high-stakes game of cards in which the stakes are not measured in dollars, but human lives. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Filmmaker Goran Paskaljevic spins five tales of life in post-millennium Serbia in this provocative omnibus combining elements of comedy and drama. First, a hypnotist arrives in a small village that has been leveled by floods. The mesmerist offers his services to the community, but the residents are suspicious of his motives. Next, a woman is sexually assaulted by the man who owns the firm where she works. Her father is also employed by the same man, but when he seeks revenge, he realizes how powerless he is in this situation. In episode three, a young man loses the money earmarked for his father's funeral in a gambling spree. Desperate to win it back, he turns to an elderly woman who has been enjoying remarkable luck at the slot machines. Part four concerns a doctor who is called to examine the son of a man who operates a slaughterhouse. The boy has developed a dangerous enthusiasm for bloodshed, but the doctor doesn't realize the full ramifications of the boy's attitude until he escapes his family's home. And finally, a confidence man promising new health to a group of ailing and elderly people leaves them stranded in the middle of nowhere en route to taking the cure. Optimisti (aka The Optimists) received its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A bizarre fantasy with elements of science fiction and socio/political allegory, Goodbye, 20th Century! opens in the year 2019, where war has left the world barren and devastated. Kuzman (Nikola Ristanovski) has been sentenced to death for blasphemy (the superstitious among his people believe his verbal outbursts may have brought a disease to the community), but he somehow survives his execution and has a series of strange adventures and sexual escapades. Meanwhile in the year 1999, people are celebrating New Year's Eve (to the sounds of Sid Vicious's recording of My Way) as a downcast gentleman in a Santa Claus outfit attends a funeral that degenerates into violence. Goodbye, 20th Century! had its U.S. premiere at the 1999 Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, California. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Playwright Ugo Chiti directed this Italian romantic drama set in the summer of 1957. Single mother Anna (Maria Grazia Cucinotta) marries truckdriver Fosco (Lazar Ristovski) and moves with her infant daughter Santina (Jessica Auriemma) to a rural Tuscan coastal community where Fosco lives with his son, sensitive teen Livio (Giorgio Noe). Fosco, who moonlights by robbing Etruscan graves of relics valued by art dealers, is jailed for theft and thrown in prison, a situation which draws Anna and Livio together into a passionate romance. Shown at the 1998 Venice Film Festival (Perspectives). ~ 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

Allegory on several levels pervades this romantic drama, filmed in Serbia during the war in Bosnia in the early 1990s. In the story, Lisa (Katarina Zutic) is a tremendously sexy and brainy college student is in the midst of her preparations for her math finals, and is, as usual, playing complicated games with turtles, each bearing a different number painted on its plastron. When her hands become mysteriously stained with blue, her quest to find out how that happened leads her to the laboratory of a man (Lazar Ristovski) who has been searching for the formula for a blue used in ancient icons. He is such a refreshing change from her regular boyfriend, a wealthy clothes-hound without much in the brains department, that the two of them embark on a brief seaside fling. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

It is the period just after the cessation of hostilities in World War II, and young Etel and Dani, who are brother and sister, are enjoying a moment of tranquility in the open area near their home, which is just inside the border of Yugoslavia. Out of nowhere a group of Russian soldiers appear, holding Dani while they rape his sister. Curiously, it is Dani who later appears to be the most changed: Etel occupies herself with the child of her rape. During this time, the new communist government of Yugoslavia is engaging in some social engineering: a Serbian family has moved in next to them (they are of Hungarian extraction) and there is immediate dislike between the two families. This does not make the budding romance between a young man from the Serbian family and Etel any easier, any more than the government's so-called "agrarian reform" measures make is easy for farmers to survive. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

During the frozen days of January in 1942, a group of Yugoslavian soldiers were surrounded by Germans and had to walk over the mountains and past Sarajevo in sub-zero temperatures. This film spins a fictional tale around their forced march, including scenes of the after-effects -- such as gangrenous toes removed surgically before an entire foot could become infected. Due to the subject matter, this film is a better bet for patriots and surgeons. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide