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“Worst birthday ever” doesn’t begin to cover the magnitude of what befalls our protagonist in “Goran.” Fast-rising Croatian helmer Nevio Marasovic’s third professional feature — he’s made a well-received fourth, “Comic Sans,” since this one premiered at Fantasia nearly two years ago — is not so much a psychological thriller as an emotional horror movie, in which the title character’s fortunes go from bad to unimaginably worse. Holding its poker face to the bitter end, this is a black comedy whose slow burn nonetheless eventually leaves no one unconsumed by the flame of cruel fate. Uncork’d is giving it a limited U.S. theatrical release starting this Friday.

Goran (Franjo Dijak) is an uncomplicated guy who enjoys drinking (maybe a little too often), driving a cab (in a podunk town where it’s scarcely needed) and hanging out with bestie Slavko (Goran Bogdan) at a cabin where...