Tri palme za dve bitange i ribicu

Rasa Andric's "Tri palme..." isn't going to stay in your head long after you're through with it. Like a quick fix lemonade that hits the spot when you're thirsty for something that goes down easy, it will satisfy you for a time and quickly be out of your system. In the long run it just opened my appetite for something more hearty and substantial.

Phrase "so-so" was invented with this film in mind.

Plot is a pretty straight-forward exercise seen in many pictures, but placed in a year 1993 Belgrade amid galloping inflation, monetary chaos and social effects of the war being fought just 200km away - a setting that basically drives the plot as characters are forced to do things they normally wouldn't even take into consideration.

So with a little romance, some bank robbery, a pinch of semi-originality and a steady dose of predictability, we have a marginal recommendation from me.

P.S. It's better than Andric's second movie "Munje!".

One of the best recent Yugoslav movies. Entertaining and intelligent. One of few movies that was able to speak about the situation in Yugoslavia without presenting the people as wild, ruthless and barbarous creatures, but rather as they are: normal human beings, in rather un-normal circumstances. All that said with lots of humor. Music is great too. Photography is perhaps weaker point, but it is due to the 'scarcity of financial resources' I guess. Anyway, if you have a chance go and see it.

The first and the best

"Three Palms for Two Punks and a Babe" is a directorial debut of Radivoje Andric and, given the budget and the circumstances in which it was filmed, it turned out quite good. It may not be a masterpiece of a domestic cinema, but it's certainly better than the next two that he made. This romantic crime-comedy will touch the heart of anyone old enough to remember life in Serbia in the early nineties. Unfortunately, for the full experience, it is necessary that you are from Balkan, but it is a characteristic of most local films, so it can not be considered a flaw. If nothing else, watch it as a curiosity, a domestic film from the '90s, in which there is neither Bjelogrlic nor Kojo.

7/10

A visually excellent film, it shows the everyday life in Belgrade during the complete chaos, sanctions, warfare and crime. Young people trying to find their spot under the sun, trying to fall in love and dreaming of a far away place where they can live without the stress of trying to survive the day. Movies in the 90s in Serbia are definitely the best, and early 2000s. Very often absurd, sprinkled with classical Serbian dark sense of humor. I definitely recommend!

The producers of the Three Palms for Two Punks and a Babe (Tri palme za dve bitange i ribicu) had undoubtedly a very low budget for their film. It was the only totally independent production in Yugoslavia in 1998. Having that in mind and all other technical difficulties they had, the crew made a very good job. Especially the film director Radivoje Andric, concerning the fact that this was his first feature.

It is a story about hyper-inflation in Belgrade in 1993. A monthly inflation of 313 million per cent is reason enough for not thinking about tomorrow. In all that madness, when even condoms are washed and dried, three young people try to survive, each in their own way. At one point their destinies meet. They want to rob the bank that is robbing the entire nation!

Unpretentious, funny, relaxing... If you have a chance to see it, don't miss it.