Noticias

To be a well-paid anthropologist living in a luxurious Austrohungarian apartment in the center of Zagreb, researching and writing a book on old Slavic traditions - such is the fate of disillusioned Ana (Marija Škaričić), the protagonist of writer/director Dubravka Turić's enigmatic-to-a-fault debut drama Traces. While working on a book, academically accomplished but spiritually unfulfilled, Ana starts noticing symbols and traces that may or may not relate to her life. Cinematographer Damjan Radovanović's carefully composed wide shots convey a feeling that everyday life is filled with meaningful patterns. Unfortunately, narratively and thematically Traces soon delves into the overly familiar territory of European art house cinema - bourgeoise existential crisis. Ana's father (Mate Gulin) is sick and soon dies, an event that pushes her even deeper into a crisis of meaning.

Corrosive modernity looms large over Ana and the world she inhabits. She frequently listens to an audiobook recording of Ts Elliot's.