Petelinji zajtrk

Petelinji zajtrk (english Rooster's Breakfast) is a love story with a dash of a thriller. The story is set in mid. 90's in a small town in Prekmurje (region of Eastern Slovenia). There Djuro gets a job as apprentice beside motor mechanic master Gajas. Later, Djuro and Bronja (femme fatale Pia Zemljic), wife of a local criminal Lepec, started an affair, which marks a start of dramatic events.

Simply story, great cast, superb acting (especially Vlado Novak). If you want to check out, what's Slovenian cinematography doing lately, that's the film for you.

Without a doubt: 10/10

Rooster's Breakfast is a love story but more interesting as the picture of a time and place, of old guys sitting and drinking and playing cards in the courtyard of a pretty Slovenian house and thinking about the past. The movie takes place only a decade ago (1998), but since then Slovenia has joined the European Union, changed currencies and become increasingly more prosperous. The small town, with its typically Austrian-influenced homes and pretty countryside, recalls a time when the aging folks made their own booze and remembered Tito with fond memories.

One of the central characters -- an old car mechanic -- is charming for his innocence and good heart. His acting is the high point of the movie and probably the best reason to see it.

Much was made in Slovenia of the presence of a well-known singer -- but I had never heard of her, having no background in Balkan pop culture.

This is a comedy that ends a little too neatly. Wth a slightly different plot twist it would be a poignant tragedy. That it is a comedy says something about where Slovenia thinks it is going today. Unlike some other parts of middle or eastern Europe -- Ukraine leaps to mind -- Slovenia is choosing to look ahead not back on the death of WWII. The future is represented by the clean-cut young mechanic who has a risky love affair with a married woman.

How to make that come out right? How can that be a comedy? See the movie.

It was odd for me to watch this movie as I was completely unaware about Slovenian film industry and movie culture. Considering the above fact I have to say I was not much impressed by the whole affair.

The story is set in a town in Slovenia, bordering Austria and centers around the workshop of Gajas - an auto mechanic and his assistant, David, who at the starting of the movie moves to the town in search of job, played by Vlado Novak and Primoz Bezjak respectively. The story mostly happens in the auto mechanic shop and house of Gajas and the movie is rich with different kinds of characters that revolve around Gajas.

When the story moves ahead, we find that David getting into a serious affair with Bronja, the wife of a thug-like man, Lepec, a strip club owner. Unknown to him almost throughout the movie, they have a passionate affair that suddenly turns very serious. While Gajas have a not- so- good relationship with Lepec as the latter does not pay immediately for the works done by Gajas. Meanwhile, Gajs comes to know about the relationship between his assistant and Lepec's wife yet he does not disclose it with Lepec.

The love story is so lamely written and visualized. The director has done it in a much too cynical way. The audience does not see any connection between the couple. The only things we see between the couples are they making love that too three to four times. We don't see them talking or we don't see them looking at each other with understanding. Yet towards the end we see both of them completely into each other and missing each other. Even the acting of Bezjak and Zemljic was any good.

The direction also falls flat with nothing outstanding to give with a plain old story in the same old pot. Another important thing about this movie is that, the cinematography is really good and has really shown great shots of Slovenia.

But I have to say I have to say the movie was in some way watchable, thanks to Gajas and his lines. Vlado Novak's portrayal as the aging drunken enthusiastic mechanic was a clinical one who is all gung-ho about the old days when Tito was alive. He falling for the Croatian pop singer Severina and her voice and he being desperate to meet her was all nice to watch. And his dreams and the rooster's breakfast (watch the movie to get it) he has with "Severina" all leads to a better climax to the whole movie that the love story alone could not have done. Mr. Novak was indeed brilliant in enacting the role as the mechanic in love with the celebrity with all the great lines in the movie given to him. When the movie in the whole as David as the main character and is all about his life in the town and how it affects the life of people there, Gajas gets all the applause for his innocence and a brilliant acting.

But on the whole, the movie fails considerably as the audience has not understood why Bronja and David are in love, why nobody noticed them together when they were walking around the town all the while, why Lepec's cars are constantly in repair.

It's not a great movie, a onetime watchable movie just for the awesome acting of Novak and the cinematography. But as I said in the beginning I don't know how movies are made in Slovenia and this might have biased my views on the movie.

P.S. Heard that this movie was one of the biggest hits in Slovenia and had received numerous awards. Hmmmm!!!

~ dillitalkies.blogspot.com ~

A much awaited romance/drama by a young, fresh director Marko Naberšnik has yet again, after a certain dry spell, filled movie theaters across Slovenia. It also, in the absence of real competition, won a bunch of awards on this years slovenian film festival and Naberšnik was quickly praised as the savior of slovenian cinematography. Well, I must say the movie is »watchable« but I certainly wouldn't go so far as to compare Naberšnik to Emir Kusturica as some critics did. The plot is not particularly original or daring and some elements of the story just pop-up from nowhere as if they were made-up on the go. The humor is weak or just plain boring. The only impressive thing about this movie is really great acting by Vlado Novak as the owner of the auto-repair shop and both romantic protagonists, Primož Bezjak and Pia Zemljič. All in all – I recommend you see this movie but I wouldn't watch it twice

I easily understand why people not from this part of Europe don't find this film so amusing. As an outside viewer you don't really get all the secret messages and all the mind processes inside character's head. This film is a perfect and I really mean perfect reflection of an ex- Yugoslavian nation, where everyone kind of loves each other but at the same time stabbing in the back at the first clear opportunity. And also the nostalgia for the "good old days", when everything was so much better, times when we still had our Tito, is still present nowadays. The acting from Vlado Novak was superb. He represents the typical simple-minded worker with a good hart, who just wants to earn respect from his friends, giving everything away until he has something to give and so easily fooled that you can't help but feel sorry for him. So if you're familiar with the Slovenian scene, you should definitely see this one! For others who still want to see something extraordinary from Slovenian cinema I highly recommend: Class Enemy (2013)