Aleksandar Bercek Movies

The tragedy of the war in Bosnia makes way for the humor and compassion of people living their lives under difficult circumstances in this comedy drama from filmmaker Emir Kusturica. In 1992, war is brewing in Bosnia, but the city fathers in the town of Golobuci are going ahead with their plans of building a railroad line they hope will bring more visitors into the city. Luka (Slavko Stimac), who is in charge of the construction project, lives with his wife, Jadranka (Vesna Trivalic), a former musician who is suffering from manic depression, and his son, Milos (Vuk Kostic), a talented soccer player who dreams of turning pro some day. After Jadranka has an especially severe episode, Luka takes her to the hospital, where he meets Sabaha (Natasa Solak), a Moslem nurse who quickly develops a nonprofessional interest in Luka. As the clouds of war appear on the horizon, Milos is drafted into the army and Jadranka runs away, and after Sabaha is left with no place to go, she's sent to Luka's place by his friend Aleksic (Stribor Kusturica), where she quickly takes over as both housekeeper and bedmate to Luka. Zivot Je Cudo (aka Life Is a Miracle) was screened in competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this Yugoslavian drama, produced in 1991, a gifted actor destroys his life with alcohol. Stamena is an American-Serb. She has come to Belgrade for a vacation. There she encounters and falls for a handsome rising star, Aleska. Though in love, the two must deal with cultural differences. She wants a job; he insists she stay home and raise the baby. He drinks all the time; she wants him to stop. He does and his career takes off with a popular TV series, and the acclaim he receives for his brilliant work on the stage. Unfortunately, the government shuts down his play. The despondent Aleska runs for the bottle. While drunk he is involved in a fatal traffic accident. He is sent to prison. Stamena promptly bundles up the baby and returns to the U.S. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Director Srdjan Karanovic has taken clips from a TV series he created in 1974 (Pogledaj Me, Nevernice) and, focusing on the protagonists in that series, he brings their lives up-to-date in this conventional sequel. The friends gather on a floating restaurant, and as they drift down-river listening to the strains of a band, each tries to outdo the others with what he or she has managed to achieve in the last decade. Before long, it becomes painfully clear that the truth hardly measures up to their stories -- and worse yet, now the raft looks like it is in trouble. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, 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

A Yugoslavian tourist in Africa buys a flute from a very sick man at a bazaar, unwittingly picking up the dread disease of smallpox in the process. When the tourist passes through the controls at Belgrade airport, he is already feeling the effects of the sickness and ends up in a ward at a hospital while the doctors try to diagnose his condition. The chief doctor misdiagnoses the man's illness and as a consequence, the smallpox spreads like wildfire -- to the little boy in a bed near him, to an unfortunate plumber, to the nursing staff -- and he dies before these others also succumb, within a matter of hours. The doctor who guessed wrong about the man's condition locks himself up in his office for protection and injects himself with serum as a safety measure. Meanwhile, after much bumbling along, the place is quarantined and the World Health Organization has someone arrive in a space suit to decontaminate the hospital and end the epidemic. Though what has happened to the flute that started the deaths? Some remaining scenes clue the viewers in to this unsettling question. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The young hero of this story leads a life with more peaks and valleys than a rollercoaster ride and cannot seem to level out the fast track. The man's adult life (he was spawned from wealthy parents) begins with him studying medicine, living without the vices of either drink, drugs, or nicotine, playing his guitar when he has a moment, and enjoying the times he has with his rich girlfriend. Then he runs into a more liberated Swiss miss, and becomes entranced by her charms, his life of bucolic abstinence begins to fade as he discovers that his definition of sex had been limited. When his girlfriend abruptly -- and emphatically -- ends their relationship, he takes off and joins a punk-rock group, cultivating a whole new life style and becoming a singer in the process. That does not last, due to the fact that he cannot stay out of trouble, and when he is sent home by the police, he escapes after trouncing his father. After an accident, he mends his ways, gets married, and to all intents and purposes, has settled down to a quiet life after all. Exactly how much he may have settled down is open to question, apparently the rollercoaster ride has yet to come to a satisfactory stop. ~ 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

A young man who long ago gave over the hard work of being a composer for the easy life of a rich man's son is bamboozled into slapping together a musical production. Having borrowed right and left, and plagiarized the works of a friend, he feels cheap, very cheap. He feels even worse when the awful thing is a success. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Awakening with a small but very irritating rash on his privates, a young TV reporter clashes with everyone in his life, from his lovely wife to his wealthy father-in-law and his co-workers. He sees his doctor and is given an ointment to rub onto the affected body part several times a day. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this wartime comedy, a troupe of partisans have an assignment which requires that they pretend to be a minister of the collaborationist Serbian government and his staff. The need to get into a city and execute the members of a German-trained group which is systematically killing communists. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide