Sky Hook

Nice and tragic story about NATO bombin and terror on Serbia in 1999. It's a story about friends who like to play basketball in the neighbourhood.

This film is intended to all people who lives outside the Serbia and Yugoslavia, especially from USA and Western Europe, so I don't agree with Dusan. Sky hook has nothing with nationalism and patriotism, it has strong emotional component. I say opposite, it is strong, and if you are bored with Hollywood - this is the right film for you. My best recommendation, although I don't like Samardzic movies. Good acting especially from Ana Sofrenovic, Nebojsa Glogovac, Nikola Kojo, Irfan Mensur and Nikola Djuricko. Sky Hook is made for assertive reason and it has a meaning. Classical Serb movie in the 90s with solid social drama component with good humor and dialogs. Last scene is very good, but the end could be a little better (more positive). Also, it has some plastic dialogs, but at the end...7 from 10

I'd just like to clarify something about the "Nebeska udica.". The war in question is not the Croatian or Bosnian war, but the Kosovo war of 1999 (March 24 - June 10) in which Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinski affair decided to bomb Serbian cities by means of NATO troops. While the apocalyptic situation in Serbia that is shown here is but the continuation of a 10 year long Balkan catastrophe, the bombing attacks in this movie are those of NATO. For the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) it was the first time it had dropped bombs on somebody since World War II. It was also the first NATO attack on a sovereign country. And also the first American intervention that came about because of a presidential blow-job.

As far as the cinematic experience is concerned, the movie is a bit melodramatic, and the acting only so-so.

...movies coming from Serbia in the nineties. Ljubisa Samardzic as director and experienced cast with serbian movie star Dragan Bjelogrlic at the head. And a presence of the war included.

Although filled with small time jokes, emotions, family relations, there is a strong presence of resignation, which finally contributes to sad endings and family tragedies.

But what did you expect? A Hollywood, romance "happy-ending". An American way of breakthrough. Heroes. There are no heroes here. Just a bunch of people stuck in the early thirties between their dreams and NATO bombings, collapsed buildings, tense family relations and small time pleasures.

The leading actor Kaja (Nebojsa Glogovac) was great in presenting above mentioned guys. Likable character with his "champions philosophy" (What it takes to be a champion? To go out on the field when it's the hardest and...won.), which didn't helped him. Sadly he uses his philosophy it at the end and...lose. I could mention the whole cast, but I wont. They were great. No sense of acting here, it's like they already been through that.

I guess that this is one of the reasons, why Serbians made the best war time movies in the Balkan. Rane, Lepa Sela Lepo Gore, and Nebeska udica are the proof. The last one is filled with emotions. Beware.

8 out of 10

Wow! I watched two ex-Yugoslavian movies last night and I was amazed by both (something that happens to me only rarely). The first was 'How the war started on my island', a wonderful Croatian black comedy about the start of the war and the second was 'Sky Hook', a Serbian film set in the ending phases of the war. I had almost lost hope that modern cinema can still produce films that can rightfully be called art, but these movies, both produced during and immediately after the period of the Yugoslav civil war proved me wrong.

First of all, I have to say that I have an advantage in watching this film compared to a 'regular' viewer, and that is that I speak the language of the movie fluently. I can therefore fully appreciate all the nuances in the speech, the slang, the dialects, etc. Some of this will unfortunately be lost on non native speakers. The movie is essentially a story about life (and death), hopes, striving and disillusions. Without falling into the trap of using pathos, tears or any other emotional exaggerations, the movie still paints an extremely powerful picture of life in Belgrade in the late 90-ties. The characters are so real, one can really identify and feel for them throughout the film. The depiction of everyday life in Belgrade under NATO bombardment cannot be any better. Lastly, another very positive aspect of the film (very rare for films made during periods of war) is that it gives no moral or political opinions as to the reasons, 'rights' and 'wrongs' of the war. Kudos to the filmmakers for this. The Director, Ljubisa Samardzic, in his debut shows that he could be a Serbian Clint Eastwood. He has namely been one of the best known Yugoslav actors for decades, and has now made his directorial debut with a spectacular film. Well done.