Nebojsa Glogovac Movies

Some motley Serbian eccentrics congregate for a seemingly innocuous party - only to watch it evolve into something much darker and more foreboding - in director Ivan Zivkovic's bleak ensemble drama Huddersfield. At the center of the tale is Rasa, a ne'er-do-well supported by his alcoholic father, whose pastimes consist of emceeing a local radio program and giving "literature lessons" to sexy teenage girls that have an unsurprising habit of ending in sex. He begins each day with a diet of coffee and cigarettes, a routine imposed upon by neighbor Ivan - an occultist with neurotic tendencies. As the tale opens, one of Rasa's chippies, Milla, turns up for a liaison, and soon after, Rasa receives the surprising news that an old acquaintance, the expatriate Igor, will soon return to town after a lengthy residence in Huddersfield, England. That night, a large group including Ivan, Milla, Rasa and pal Doole wait for Igor's appearance - and the participants' individual stories emerge, singing an ode of despair, self-introspection and the emptiness wrought by Serbia's way of life in the immediate postwar years. ~ Nathan Southern, 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

In 1999, United Nations forces began a bombing campaign in Belgrade that leveled much of the nation and made travelling in or out of the country virtually impossible. Das Erste Im Krieg Verschwindendeist Die Wahrheit (Kazna) is a documentary that uses both newsreel footage and extended interviews with colleagues and acquaintances of director Goran Rebic to document the fearsome impact the war against Belgrade had upon its people. The film, whose full title translates as "The First Thing to Disappear in War Is Truth (Punishment)," was warmly received in its screenings at several film festivals in 2000, including the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, the Thessaloniki Film Festival, and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

After producer Oliver Stone saw Serbian director Peter Antonijevic's political drama The Little One (1992), he sent him Robert Orr's screenplay, which Orr based on the true story of an American mercenary in Bosnia. Orr had been a photographer's assistant during the war. Thus, Antonijevic directed the first 100% American-funded film about the Yugoslav conflict, beginning with a Paris prologue: Former U.S. military official Joshua (Dennis Quaid) entered the Foreign Legion after his wife (Nastassja Kinski) was killed in Paris by Muslim fundamentalists. Six years later, in Bosnia during 1993, Joshua and his pal Peter (Stellan Skarsgard), fight together on the Serbian side. After Peter dies from a grenade tossed by a young girl, Joshua shoots another youth on the side of the enemy. In a prisoner exchange, psycho Serb Goran (Sergej Trifunovic), a Muslim-hater, and Joshua wind up with pregnant Vera (Natasa Ninkovic), victim of a Muslim rape. When Goran threatens to shoot her baby, Joshua kills Goran. After Vera rejects the child, her family turns against her, and Joshua drives mother and child to a refugee center. Eventually, Joshua attempts to get Vera and her baby out of the country, but they encounter death-dealing Croatian marauders. Filmed in Montenegro, Savior was shown at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival and the 1998 Sochi Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Set during the Belgrade anti-war student demonstrations of 1992, and based upon a novel by Slobodoan Selenic, this Serbian drama uses the parallel romantic tales of two generations of Serbian to comment upon and compare the brutality inherit in Milosevic's regime to that of Tito's with the point that the former is equal to or even worse than the latter. Builka is photographing participants in the demonstrations for her hip young publisher when she discovers Bogdan, a Serbian soldier with a broken leg who has been unable to get much help at the hospital. This is because he was born in a Croatian village. But despite his birthplace, Bogdan hates the Croats because they commandeered his ancestral home. Builka, who simply hates war, kindly takes Bogdan home and ministers him. She listens to his naïve, hateful rhetoric and counters it with a more logical pacifistic view. The two continue sparring and eventually they fall in love. Unfortunately, love is not stronger than Bogdan's sense of patriotism and he is again lured to the battle fields. While her relationship with Bogdan blossoms and fades, Builka runs across the WW II era diaries of her grandmother Jelena, a wealthy young woman whose country estate was seized by Tito's followers. Her step-father is then tossed in prison. To help get him out, Jelena cozies up to the brutal partisan leader Krsman, a man she simultaneously loathes and feels attracted to. When she also gets involved with her step-brother she invites tragedy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide