rijecka_sirena Reviews

When Father Was Away on Business (1985)

Tradition, Politics, Family relations - excellent!

[10/10 · 30 August 2006]

A Shu-fan wrote: "The Zolj family is of Jewish origin. The circumcision scene and the later bath of the boy are absolutely comical. Though in difficult time, the innocence of children is expressed in great lovely details, Malik's interest in other sex, his father's predicament… The filming location was Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, a place where the Jews and Muslims were killing each other. Kosovo is another long-stay pain. The body and soul of this region will take a long long time to restore." I just want to say that the family in the movie is not Jewish. They are Bosnian Muslim family and that is why they had a circumcision. Also, to people from ex-Yu is very clear when they hear their names. Their neighbor is Bosnian Serbian family (visible from the scene of the funeral); and Ankica is Bosnian Croatian (they are mostly Roman Catholics). Otherwise, I saw the movie 3 times in the last 15-20 years and every time I saw a different things in the movie, but overall - I just loved it! There is one thing that I have to mention - the subtitles are pretty bad and do not do the justice to the movie - they can be expressed much, much better! I am Kusturica's fan and it is too bad that we can not see more of his movies here in the US. This movie is just beautiful - political situation, family ties, relationships in ex-Yu... seen through the eyes of an innocent child. Beautiful, beautiful!

Do You Remember Dolly Bell? (1981)

Beautiful and deep movie

[10/10 · 30 August 2006]

Beautiful, beautiful movie! Mix of innocence, humor, love, family ties, art, social and political overview of Bosnia... We just loved the saying: "every day-in each way-i am enhancing myself". Very deep movie! Kusturica - kudos to you!!! Too bad we in US can not see all the movies that Kusturica made. We saw "When the father was away on a business"; "Do you remember Dolly Bell?" and "Underground". Wish we can see all his movies. We love his style and the deepness of the movies which are in the same time sad and funny... I guess they represent a mentality of people from Balkans - to be exact - from Bosnia and Serbia. A masterpiece! Emir Kusturica is a genius!