Ljubisa Samardzic Movies
- 2003
Belgrade circa 1995 was not an easy place to live, but one Serbo-Croatian family gets by as best they can in director Ljubisa Samardzic's second directorial effort, Ledina (Bare Ground). Petar (Nikola Nikic) lives with his Serbian father (Dragan Bjelogrlic) and Croatian mother (Ksenija Pajic) in a very ethnically mixed neighborhood on the outskirts of Belgrade. All of their neighbors harbor various beliefs regarding this diversity, based on numerous personal experiences that tend to inflame intense emotional -- and oftentimes physically brutal -- responses. Within weeks, Slobodan Milosevic will sign the Dayton Peace Accords, which many citizens hope will bring peace to the country. The reality, however, is much more harsh, as Petar learns first-hand the extent of distrust and rampant racism that permeate throughout his neighborhood. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nikola Nikic, Dragan Bjelogrlic, (more)
- 2000
Billed as "a warm human story about bombings and basketball," director Ljubisa Samardzic spins this feel good sports drama set in Belgrade during the height of NATO's air campaign against Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999. Former basketball star Kaja (Nebojsa Glogovac) struggles not only with daily destruction and the constant threat of being drafted, but also with his impending divorce from his wife Tijana (Anan Sofrenovic), who wants to emigrate to Italy with their five-year-old son. Kaja's buddies aren't doing much better. War veteran and tattoo artist Zuba (Nikola Kojo) is so hard-boiled and world-weary that he would rather hold up in his flat than face the prospect of another war. Turca (Ivan Jevtovic) fled the horrors of Sarajevo only to relive them in Belgrade, and Siske (Nikola Duricko) is constantly berated by his embittered father. While hanging out and sharing beers one day, they happen upon a scheme to clear a detritus-strewn basketball court and get a little exercise. This film was screened at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nebojsa Glogovac, Ana Sofrenovic, (more)
- 1999
Serbian cartoonist turned director Djordje Milosavljevic creates this darkly comic psychological thriller that makes subtle references to the political madness of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Nemanya (Dragan Micanovic) leads a normal life with a steady job and a fiancée, until he is waylaid by a sudden downpour in a seedy hotel called The Wheel. The hotel is populated by seemingly upstanding citizens, until the Nemanya is accused of being the notorious Laughing Monster, a serial killer who has been terrorizing the neighborhood. Nemanya is forced to fend off increasingly violent and bizarre attacks from the hysterical, xenophobic locals until events turn truly horrific. Milosavljevic deftly creates a tone of intense fear while exploring the individual capacity for violence and the banality of evil. Tockovi was screened at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dragan Micanovic, Anica Dobra, (more)
- 1997
Though they have safely reestablished themselves in Austria, a Serbian family find themselves unable to escape the horrifying conflict that ripped the former Yugoslavia apart. In making his tragic drama, screenwriter/director Goran Rebic used no actual war footage and shows less than a minute of fighting. Young Milan and his family immigrated to Austria a while ago and feel out of touch with the increasing violence in their homeland. Still the news is sufficiently bad that they decide to try to get Milan's grandmother and his older brother Sascha out of the country. En route, Sascha is apparently kidnapped and does not show up until a year later, with a Bosnian wife in tow. Despite the family's joy at his return, they soon notice disturbing changes in Sascha. Neighborhood scuttlebutt races rampantly that Sascha committed terrible war crimes. The extremely nationalistic Bora, Sascha's father is not overly disturbed by the allegations, believing them to be a sign of Sascha's Serbian loyalties. Bora proves to be the catalyst for tragedy, one that overwhelms friends, family and the increasingly depressive and obviously traumatized Sascha. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Merab Nindze, Michi Jovanovic, (more)
- 1996
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
- 1994
This film, produced in Former Yugoslavia, chronicles the horrors of Yugoslavia's meaningless civil war and it's effects upon a group of friends. The three main characters are Pedja, Ljuba, who is involved with the brother of Pedja's girlfriend Ivana, and Rabe an older friend. The threesome are placed upon the horrific front line. After Ljuba is wounded, they discover a young rape victim who takes them into her family's home. They stay there until Ljuba finally dies. To comfort the dying man, the young woman gives him a recording of the song "Why Have You Left Me?" Later, Pedja finds himself haunted by the woman. While he is a refugee in Belgrade he begins searching and finds her stealing flowers in a cemetery. Shell- shocked, she wanders the streets singing songs such as the "Girl from Ipanema". Pedja finds himself strongly attracted to her despite the fact that Ivana has prepared a safer life for him in Paris. Rabe kills himself while playing pool with an armed grenade. Following the suicide, Pedja forsakes Ivana for the other woman. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zarco Lausevi, Ljubisa Samardzic, (more)
- 1988
A Serbian family leaves the troubled Kosovo region after Moslems rape the daughter in front of her mother. When they leave their home after the assault, their family tombs are desecrated, and the move to northern Serbia is marked by rejection by the local townspeople of their new community. Meto Jovanovski plays Bozidar, a bus driver who left Kosovo 15 years before and who helps the family adjust to their new home. The family troubles follow them, as Eastern and Western culture clash with Moslem and Christian factions soon engaged in a bloody civil war. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ljubisa Samardzic, Slobodan Bestic, (more)
- 1987
The Guardian Angel in this harrowing film is the one who doesn't protect gypsy children from being sold into virtual slavery with gangs of organized beggars, pickpockets, and thieves all over Europe. Once "on the job," these young children are treated viciously, and even the mildest disobedience is met with extremely sadistic tortures. However, in this film, even when someone from outside takes an interest in an individual child and tries to help him escape this situation, there is little he can do, because even when the boy is returned to his home village, he is persuaded to sell himself again so his family can eat. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ljubisa Samardzic, Neda Arneric, (more)
- 1986
In this amusing anti-war comedy, seven inept and reluctant soldiers land on a desert island to carry on with the fighting. Just after their parachutes have collapsed behind them on the beach, helicopters approach and land nearby. Out pops a bevy of beautiful women sent to entertain the troops -- which they do, and then they leave. From that point onward, there are a series of misadventures, one of which leads to the inadvertent capture of an enemy submarine but most of which do not lead very far. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Velimir "Bata" Zivojinovic, Ljubisa Samardzic, (more)
Music and a changing culture provide new expressions for teen angst in this insightful story of the aspirations of several teens living in Belgrade in the 1950s. Four young men and their friend Esther (Gala Videnovic) form a band, hang out, and try to adjust to their changing lifestyle. Given their class backgrounds, they do not support a Communist or Socialist point of view. When Rile (Milan Strljic ), a slightly older teen and loyal Party member, romances Esther, he gets her pregnant and leaves town in a hurry. Esther's four friends take desperate measures to help her out, and unknowingly lock in their future into place with their decisions. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gala Videnovic, Milan Strljic, (more)
- 1984
In this light comedy that does not have much going for it except the lead actress Sonja Savic, a young woman decides it is time to have an adult relationship with a man, and believing that her nose is too unattractive, she opts for cosmetic surgery. Along with the change in her facial configuration, she also changes from jeans to skirts -- and of course, a former boyfriend suddenly sees her in a different light. It looks as if her first adult relationship will be built on surface appearances. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sonja Savic, Svetislav Goncic, (more)
- 1983
This weak story about a country oaf who goes after a con artist because the guy ran off with his girlfriend is the occasion for several sexual encounters between the innocent country boy and the bad women in the city -- though in the end, the exhausted fellow realizes that an honest and pure life is the best. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Slobodan Milovanovic
- 1982
Director and co-writer Zika Mitrovic has put together a series of skits to illustrate life in 1936 in the ghetto of Savamala in Belgrade. His characters include a funny, endearing woman (Ljubisa Samardzic), a young fellow hoping to earn a living through his cartoons and caricature drawings, and several prostitutes, thieves, gamblers, poets, and singers. Ljubisa Samardzic won the "Best Actress" award at the 1982 Pula Film Festival for her role in this movie. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ljubisa Samardzic
- 1982
It is 1941 and the German occupying forces are taking over Yugoslavia, making a train ride to Kraljevo a dangerous game for a secret communist agent (Ljubisa Samardzic) carrying important documents. Both the Germans and the police are looking for him on the train, and his safe arrival in Kraljevo seems like an impossibility. His determination to get the papers to the right people keeps him going, even through a gun battle after the train arrives -- challenging him to find a way to complete his mission. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ljubisa Samardzic
- 1982
This standard, family comedy is about a divorced mother with a 12-year-old son and how her ex-husband tries to win her back by spreading false rumors about the man she now loves. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ljubisa Samardzic, Boris Dvornik, (more)
- 1981
This historical drama is about the turbulence in Yugoslavia between 1946 and 1956 when Tito instituted his own version of socialism, thereby alienating both East and West. The political climate and divisions at that time are reflected in actual documentary footage within the narrative itself. The story is about the installation of a high-voltage generator and what happens when people unite to work for their own common cause (either a generator or national autonomy) - if only people could agree on what the common cause is. A young dissident is arrested, imprisoned, escapes, and is shot by a border guard. A woman who supports Tito speaks up for him at the factory where the generator will be installed, and later manages to smuggle the plans for the generator into Yugoslavia. Another white-collar worker opts for residing in Austria where all these troubles do not exist. In these images of a nation at odds with itself and the world, a vague foreboding is bound to affect viewers who know that civil war in the 1990s would destroy whatever fragile unity was promoted by this film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bozidarka Frajt, Vanja Drach, (more)
- 1981
In this children's movie, the imaginary friends of a young boy suddenly spring to life and create all kinds of problems in his little town. The story is a lively blend of live-action and animation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zarko Potocnjak, Ljubisa Samardzic, (more)
- 1979
This film is a tribute to the Partisan Squadron, a group of Yugoslav airmen who flew out of England in the early days of WWII to defend their homeland from the Nazis. ~ Forest Ray, All Movie Guide
- 1979
- R
Young teen partisans during World War II are small enough to get past obstacles in order to toss grenades into armed locations such as bunkers and houses. In this film, the youngsters are brave on and off the battlefield, and one of them has a brief romance before dying for his country. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zarko Radic, Ljubisa Samardzic, (more)
- 1978
Noted Yugoslavian communists have been imprisoned by the Germans and collaborationists, in this World War Two adventure. In the story, they tunnel to freedom, leaving behind a dead informer, and they join the partisan resistance movement. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Velimir "Bata" Zivojinovic, Ljubisa Samardzic, (more)
