Dusan Kovacevic Movies

Directed and written by Dusan Kovacevic, Profesionalac (The Professional) is set against the backdrop of what made up the former Yugoslavian territories circa the mid-'90s. The story centers around gruff Luka (Bora Todorovic), who claims to have been a State Security Police shadow during the fall of the Milosevic regime. His host, Teja (Branislav Lecic), has come to represent everything Luka despises, not just concerning Yugoslavia, but within his own individual existence. The two confront one another in a surreal montage of archival news footage and personal flashbacks. Profesionalac marks the directorial debut for Kovacevic, and received a positive reception at the Montreal World Film Festival. The film also features Natasa Ninkovic, Dragan Jovanovic, Josif Tatic, Miodrag-Miki Krstovic, Renata Ulmanski, Milos Stojanovic, Gorica Popovic, Ljiljana Dragutinovic, Dana Todorovic, and Sergej Trifunovic. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

While a boisterous wedding party is going on in the village above them, an archaeological team, led by a doddering old professor, digs beneath. They have unearthed an old Roman-era artifact, a slab bearing some inscriptions which the professor rapidly translates while his slighly drunk coworkers look on, uncomprehending. His excitement about what he has found is too much for him, and he collapses with a heart attack. He awakens to find himself in a sort of afterlife state. The slab he discovered and was so excited about marked the entryway to the classical underworld. Now he is in a position to meet and speak with the spirits that have been trapped there. Alas, he finds that they are just as silly and petty as the peasants partying above what he (and they) believe to be his corpse. The party is still going on several days later when the professor's son arrive to take care of his father's estate. He is enraged to discover that his father has left all his archaeological work and his house to the villagers and starts burning and breaking his father's things. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Sometimes handling the dead can be almost as difficult as handling the living, according to the Topalovic family and its many members -- from great-grandparents on down. They are losing ground in the fight to keep their cemetery business from going under and have had to make a clandestine alliance with n'er-do-well entrepreneurs that will supply them with recycled coffins at a cheap price -- an alliance that has kept the family in heavy debt to the grave-digging crooks. Meanwhile, young Mirko Topalovic has fallen in love with the daughter of one of the increasingly wealthy partners in the used coffin business. She works for a movie theater as a pianist (it is the era when silents are on the way out) and the owner of the theater has not yet fired her and switched to talkies because he wants her for himself. He suggests that they make a movie together -- an erotic movie he thinks to himself -- but seduction is his only goal. When Mirko starts to help out in this movie project, he comes to realize what is actually going on and overpowered by rage, he kills the woman and the theater owner. Puffed up with his aggressive deed, he goes home to convince the Topalovic family that they have to take up arms against the usurious grave-diggers -- and a wild and bloody melée ensues that will determine the fate of the family. Jelisaveta Sablic won the "Best Actress" award at the 1982 Pula Film Festival for her role as the sought-after female lead in this film. ~ 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

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