Eva Ras Movies

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

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

The Kosovo region of Yugoslavia near the Albanian border is the scene of political unrest and a modern Romeo and Juliet romance in this satirical political drama. A film director (Meto Jovanovski) gathers information for his documentary about the Serbs being forced to depart by Albanian Moslems. As the region heads towards ethnic warfare, the young Albanian woman Nadira (Sonja Jacevska) falls in love with the Serbian Miloljub (Cedo Arobabic). He is captured and castrated, and the private lives of Milobjub and Nadira become part of the director's story in his film. He must answer to the financiers and producers who believe his film was to be a comedy. The events foreshadow a long and bloody conflict between two factions, a battle that has not abated in the ten years since this film's initial release. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this film, an angel falls from the sky and one on-looker sees him as a means of stopping the aging process, another (an archbishop) sees the angel as a ticket to the papacy, and in the case of Count Miklos Zrinyi (Viktor Fulop), the angel is a sign that he should lead the forces for Hungarian national unity (the year is 1664). When someone later tries to assassinate Count Miklos, the bullet is stopped by a crucifix he wears. Other adventures weave in and out of the story, but eventually Count Miklos, who first saw the angel fall while he was out hunting for boars, frees the winged celestial who was hiding in a hen house by this time, and the heavenly being flies away. Once he has gone, the story zips back to its opening scene of the Count and his men wounding a boar - now at the end, the boar comes back for its revenge and real history resumes its course. Director Ferenc Kardos may have been too enthusiastic in his mix of fantasy, literary allusions, and Hungarian history in Mennyei Seregek because the symbolism, whatever else it is, will be abstruse for many viewers. This tale is reminiscent of an earlier short story by Gabirel García Márquez in which an angel falls from the sky, is put in a chicken coop for want of any other idea, and is treated almost in a second-hand manner. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The well-meaning crew put in charge of investigating illegal house-building in Yugoslavia causes more troubles both for the house-builders and for the country's higher ups than either have much use for. They are soon pressured to be less conscientious. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this highly symbolic and allegorical film, the inhabitants of a small village are polarized by the arrival of a beautiful woman who represents the good and evil in each of them. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This ribald comedy is based on a classic 16th-century play, La Betia, by the playwright Ruzante. The story is simple enough: Zilio (Nino Manfredi), a peasant handyman, agrees to help his friend (Smoki Samardi) marry the woman of his dreams (Rosanna Schiaffino). His stipulation is that when they wed, he should have an equal share of lovemaking with the woman. The wedding is accomplished, but the handyman's stipulation is not met until a fourth person (Zilio's wife) joins the fray. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This tragicomedy is the second feature for Dusan Makavejev, the most celebrated Yugoslavian director of the 1960s. Included in this montage of stories is an erotic love scene, a strudel recipe, rat catching, and a graphic autopsy of a female victim. The plot concerns a love affair between a switchboard operator and a rat catcher. In most of his films, Makavejev takes a decidedly anti-Stalinist stance and champions the causes of individual political and sexual freedom. The director claims that style is not as important, as any kind of feature can tell the story. One of his favorite tools is using the element of psychological surprise. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide