Munje!

When this movie arrived at the cinemas in Serbia, it was a great hit. Its success came mainly because it came after a bunch of socially-themed dramas and peasant comedies that still flood Serbian cinematography. So, "Munje" came as a big relief at just the right time.

The movie is a laid back, urban comedy about two best friends on a wild night in the city. It can be thought of as a mix of "Kevin and Perry go large" and maybe "Clerks II", only on a tighter budget. Most of the main actors are well-known names in Serbia, and there are a couple of new faces that got more bigger roles after this movie. Although the acting isn't great, and the flow of the movie gets choppy at few points, altogether this movie is easy to sit through the whole. You won't be rolling around laughing in tears, but the movie may give you an occasional chuckle, a few nice one-liners to remember, and will leave you in a generally very positive mood.

I would like to mention that there's an unofficial sequel to this movie called "Kad porastem bicu Kengur", made by a very similar film crew.

This movie was seen by over 600,000 people in Serbia alone which is more than any other Serbian film drew to cinemas in recent years and I read it's very popular in other ex-Yugoslav republics as well. I can certainly understand why audiences in that part of the planet flocked to see it in such high numbers. It is a first motion picture coming out of those parts in a long, long time that doesn't in any way deal with war, misery, refugees, effects of economic sanctions, death, gore, ethnic hatred... etc, choosing instead to focus on other, more cheerful aspects of life in Serbia.

And while second-time director Rasa Andric deserves praise for attempting something different, all this doesn't hide the fact that this movie is NOT very good.

It employs a basic teen premise, even though most of it's protagonists are pushing thirty, placed in the setting of drum'n'base music (which is there I guess to provide the audience with a feeling they're getting an insight into something 'cool and progressive'). Compared to similarly set Serbian movies like 1992's "Mi nismo andjeli" and 1989's "Kako je propao rokenrol", "Munje" falls well short. I never got a sense that characters I'm watching are real people in any way - most of what they said or did seemed very much laboured and contrived. Other two movies also developed a lot more characters whereas "Munje" relies far too much on two central guys Pop (Sergej Trifunovic) and Mare (Boris Milivojevic) who, frankly, are not very captivating. The two chicks also get plenty of screen time. But despite their high billing these are just throwaway roles, simply tagging along with the guys - they don't influence the plot in any way whatsoever.

Plenty of visual tricks are on display too, and that, coupled with 'the look' and music, gives this movie a feeling of the music video. And that's probably the best way to describe it - an extended music video with one dimensional characters. It's a mix of cool individual scenes that fail to add up to anything even remotely interesting.

If you want to see light-hearted, youth-oriented movies from Serbia better than this one, watch "Mi nismo andjeli" or "Kako je propao rokenrol" instead.

The screenplay needed some polishing. At times it is funny, at times it gets cheesy and lazy. But it is a fond memory for me. The film does manage to capture much of the surreal feel of turn-of-the-century Belgrade, and I appreciate that. There was this feeling of being torn and desperately trying to escape to some better place, not just away from Serbia, but away from all the nihilism. I myself left Serbia around that time, and it wasn't so much because of poverty. It was an attempt to escape the ubiquitous feeling of being torn apart and inability to make sense of things. Like many others, I found out that I merely jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire, as the western world took a dramatic turn in the direction of total moral and cultural chaos. Anyway, I enjoy this film despite its faults. Nebojsa Glogovac definitely saves the day in a minor role as a reluctant cop who'd rather smoke weed with the protagonists. I give the film 8 stars, and that's generous.

Reading the previous comments I am a bit surprised by people who claim that this movie would appeal only to viewers from ex-Yugoslavia. I've seen this movie during this year's Film Festival in Warsaw, Poland. And it was extremely entertaining evening, people applauded many times during the movie, laughing all the way through. This reminded me of a similar mood and life-style in POland in early 90's after the end of Communism - when first ravers organized underground parties which then turned into techno and d'n'b scene. Maybe I feel some affinity with this movie cause I'm also Slavic and former heavy party-goer, but I believe that this movie could sell well in e.g. London, Paris or New York. True, it is hedonistic-pure trip, but well-acted (particularly older actors and a main hero in glasses and raver-hat). After the screening the audience had an opportunity to meet the director - a fan of Partizan Belgrad actually and not Crvena Zvezda represented by Dulan Savic in the movie. The movie was shot digital and then transferred to 35 mm. It cost just 30,000, unbelievable - return on investment should be probably calculated in thousands of percent! If you want to see not-politically charged movie from former Yogoslavia - this is a really good choice. Absolutely recommended, and not only to panters!

There is a reason why so many people in Serbia and the other countries of ex-Yugoslavia watched this film. There is also a reason why i doubt that many people who are not from that region will understand it.

This movie is authentic to the extreme in showing the world it is set in. The language, the situations, character backgrounds make the characters seem like people you could easily meet on the street; if you live in Belgrade that is. If you live somewhere halfway across the world they will probably seem like unrealistic badly-portrait freaks.

The cast is a combination of old and proven actors, young inexperienced ones, and one soccer player. The older part of the cast did it's job to the point of brilliance (Cvijanovic, Djuricko) while the younger part of the cast did so-so. The former "Red Star" striker turned out to be a horrid actor, but fortunately his on-screen time is short. The story, although not particularly developed, is developed enough to carry the jokes, which are good and well paced.

The bottom line is that this movie is entertainment, and not meant to be a deep and preaching film like so many others that have come out of Yugoslavian cinematography in the last decade. It has also managed to skip every mention of war and post-war issues, which (sad as it may sound) is a big refreshment. And it also has an excellent soundtrack (taglined "the first Serbian soundtrack").

The recommendation: If you live in Yugoslavia or thereabout, you've probably seen this movie (if you haven't - go see it). If you live somewhere far away, and left Yugoslavia in the last 6-7 years you might still like it. If you left before that you won't have a damn clue what's going on. You have to know the generations that grew up in the late 80's and the 90's to get this. If you've never been here, you probably won't understand this film, and therefore will probably dislike it.