Dragan Maksimovic Movies
- 1997
Croatia-born director Zoran Solomun's second feature, shot in 16mm, follows Yugoslavian refugees to a new life in Germany. This German production is divided into several sections, beginning with the friendship of two young Bosnian women forced from a train at the Serbian-Hungarian border. Jimmy (Dario Suk), a hustler from the opener, provides a link with later segments. Each section is prefaced by a caption showing the passage of time. The original German title translates as "Five Stories From the War." Shown at 1997 film festivals (Toronto, Thessaloniki). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dario Suk, Sabrina Hodzic, (more)
Though cloaked in explosive black humor, the serious anti-war message of this bitterly satirical and politically charged Yugoslav film cuts like shrapnel. Set in Bosnia during 1980 and 1992 (like a pendulum, the time frame swings back and forth), and allegedly based upon a true story, the plot focuses upon the longtime friendship of Muslim Halil, and Serbian Milan. While growing up during the '80s, the two often hung out near an abandoned tunnel. Though curious, the boys were too frightened by the mythical boy-eating ogres said to venture within. The story moves to 1992 and begins as the war between the Serbs and the Muslim ignites in horrible violence and the friends find themselves forced into becoming enemies. Meanwhile, a beautiful American journalist is captured by the Serbs. The film opens with a shot of European and American dignitaries smiling broadly as they inaugurate the new Brotherhood and Unity tunnel that links Zagreb and Belgrade. Later in the film, it will become the scene of horror when Serbian soldiers are trapped by Muslims within. With nothing to do but wait for death, the trapped soldiers amuse themselves by staging allegorical circus acts. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Winner of the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, this drama centers on the Balkan conflict as viewed through the eyes of a filmmaker named A (Harvey Keitel). Director Theo Angelopoulos wrote the screenplay, drawing from personal experiences. A is a Greek émigré director who returns to his homeland after 35 years in the U.S., ostensibly to screen his latest film, which is so controversial that it attracts religious protests. In fact, A's real purpose is to search for three reels of undeveloped film that may be the first ever shot by pioneer Balkan filmmakers the Manakis brothers, who documented simple circa-1900 peasant life. A's Homeric journey includes flashbacks into past historical events. He travels by taxi to Albania, where he enlists the help of a film archivist (Maia Morgenstern, who plays all four female roles). She joins him on a train ride to Bucharest, Romania. An extensive flashback chronicles A's childhood under Communism in Bucharest. His next stop is Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, where he is directed to Sarajevo. Angelopoulos mixes scenes shot during the actual Balkan war with historic re-enactments and dreamscapes to examine the role of the artist in political upheaval. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harvey Keitel, Maia Morgenstern, (more)
- 1994
This cynical Serbian comedy features a battle between Good and Evil. The tale centers around a teenage fashion student, Marina and a freewheeling swinger, Nikola. After their one night stand, which he does not remember, the spaced out girl finds herself pregnant. Marina will do anything to con Nikola into marrying her. She enlists her friends to devise a series of crazy plots. Included are scenes of a devil with a nose for coke and rock'n'roll, and an effete angel dancing to '60s tunes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nikola Kojo, Milena Pavlovic, (more)
- 1987
If Musa can only bring himself to stomach his work at the saw mill for a little longer, he will reach retirement age and will have a nice pension. However, a strike has brought home to him just how bad the wages and working conditions are, and he doesn't return after the strike is over. Meanwhile, his son has had no job for a long time but plays soccer all the time, when he is not wooing the girl who runs the newsstand at the train station. Musa is a bad-tempered fellow who quarrels often with his son. On one of these occasions, his wife throws both of them out of the house. Later she goes mad and then dies. Eventually, the son is arrested for a rape he didn't commit, but this doesn't stop the boy and his girlfriend from getting married, they just do it in jail. The father, left alone with his grudges and grievances, seems to collapse in on himself. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mira Banjac, Emir Hadzihafisbegovic, (more)
- 1983
- PG
In this drama, a Yugoslavian native leaves the US and returns home after a 20-year absence. Back in his home fishing village, he begins caring for his grandchildren so their parents can go to West Germany and work. The grandfather makes the children work very hard, despite the fact that a local teacher begs him to ease up on the boy so he can attend school. The grandfather eventually dies, but by that time, the children have become determined to keep caring for the farm. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Damien Nash
- 1979
The sweep of history is shown through events as seen in a poor tobacco-growing village. Before World War II, the villagers are not allowed to sell or smoke their own crops. They are forced by the police and authorities to send their entire output to a government monopoly at outrageously low prices. In order to survive, they are forced to try to sell whatever they can hide from the police on the black market. When the war comes, the crop is sold to the Italian occupiers, once again failing to benefit the villagers. Afterwards, the new and more benign state once again resumes monopolistic practices, but at least one farmer cannot accept this. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dragan Maksimovic, Rade Serbedzija, (more)
- 1979
Peter Brook, one of the pioneers of the experimental theatre movement of the 1950s and 1960s, was the director of Meetings with Remarkable Men. Brook tells the story of Asian mystic G. I. Gurdijeff, here played by Dragan Maksimovic. Gurdijeff devotes his entire existence, from youth to old age, in quest of the meaning of life. He eventually develops a form of meditation incorporating modern dance. Terence Stamp, who in Meetings with Remarkable Men plays Prince Lubovedsky, himself briefly retreated from his career after this picture, in favor of Eastern meditation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dragan Maksimovic, Terence Stamp, (more)
Enjoy the performances of some of Russia's greatest ballet dancers. ~ All Movie Guide
