Goran

Yesterday i watched the movie vis-a-vis from the same director which i liked, so with high hopes i decided to watch the movie he made after that which is Goran and im kind of disappointed. the storytelling and pacing here are just way off. the actors do a good job, especially the main protagonists "tortured facial expressions" (actor franjo dijak) is actually a great acting performance but it wont help the movie with its plot-issues.

the movie drags till the 48th minute until we kind of get to the real issue of the main protagonist, i wished the setup of his "condition" would have been established somewhere around the 8:00min mark when he is in the log cabin with his friend, it would have been easier to relate to him after his girlfriend makes the big reveal at minute 18:00 and the audience would have been much more patient with the things that start to slowly unfold from there on. instead, out of nowwhere there is a scene (at the 33min mark) where he approaches an unknown woman at the trainstation and offers to drive her to the next town, in the conversion we get a first hint why he is so unhinged and thats it, thats the whole purpose of that fabricated scene, sort of lazy writing. first time it gets interessting and intense is at the movies halftime, bare in mind, the audience is still in the dark of his condition and only vaguely can assume whats going on but doenst know yet "why?". in the 2nd half the movie gets some traction. im not going to spoil the end of the movie, but it was unrelateable and therefore not a real payoff for having spent 80mins watching this movie.

this movie had potential, locations looked great, actors where great, the basic plot-idea was okay too but i wished the script had been better, hence only a mid-rating.

The synopsis for this story sounded halfway reasonable:- A taxi driver just wants to drive his cab and take care of his blind wife. The introductory visuals even looked halfway interesting:- A string of interesting bleak shots of frozen Croatia landscapes but it's basically downhill from there - it drags a poorly developed, meager plot over the familiar ground of mistaken identity and revenge (well sort of). This ugly abomination continues to drag the hapless viewer through a frozen wasteland peopled by uninteresting (if not worthless) characters. None of which really warrant any of our valuable time - especially as it meanders around 90mins.

The lead performance by Franjo Dijak is simultaneously frustrating as well as being the movies only saving grace. It's all in his tortured facial expressions. Trouble is, these expressions are brought about by a script so ambiguously unworthy - so full of its own self satisfied nastiness that it's eventually rendered undeserving of any serious consideration. Writer Gjermund Gisvold and director Nevid Marasovic appear too busy copying the dreary work of the now overrated Cohen Bros to create any characters we can feel for or build situations we can identify with (unless of course you happen to be as fouled-up as those who make up this depraved mess).

After unrelenting acts of moral vulgarity and murder in desolate snow bound cabins - the movie ends ridiculously at a sunny beach with those left alive sitting on a bench looking foolish. Whoever thought the droning ambiance played under several scenes would add to the uneasiness of the situations - should have given some thought to the audience they were driving crazy - thinking their sound system had developed a feedback or earthing problem. Maybe those who can nurture projects like these might consider a new career. Are we intended to look upon this movie as something of an art form, a tragedy, a super dark comedy, or even as a horror story? If so, then it needs something more substantial to make it worthy. It's just another low spot for the World Movies trash fest and not much of a creative recommendation for the Croatian movie industry.

I don't understand all of the negative reviews. The movie is exactly what it intends to be: a bleak tragecomedy (note I don't say "dark" comedy, because it is beyond that).

If you feel like the movie is dragging, maybe you should turn your brain off and go back to watching Avengers. The haters here are probably also the ones who prefer the directors cut for Donnie Darko (aka Donnie Darko for Dummies). They need everything handed to them with full explanation.

Maybe the people reviewing this don't like films that feel like real life turned up to max? But that's what it is. It shows how twisted life can be - just when one thing starts looking up, you find another three reasons why it isn't. And just when you think you know someone, you realize you don't know them at all.

The film has a perfect cast, capable direction and cinematography, a decent script, great music, and it had me engaged from the opening shot. I would like to say that it would be nice for the characters to be expanded a bit (also the runtime) because it is all worth exploring more. But, it is also to be said that the vagueness of it all was intentional for purpose of timed reveal.

I rate it a solid 7/10 (gave it a 10/10 to boost the ratings)

I'll never understand why some directors don't realize that the beginning of your film should actually be INTERESTING. Why TF should I want to keep watching boring men be boring just so I can get to the point where something actually happens. I don't mind a slow-paced film in general, and understand setting things up, but my goodness, this film treated my time as though it was infinite and shouldn't be enjoyed. It's not, and it should be.

Bland, boring, passionless people meandering across my screen is a waste of my time.

Goran is movie that has many foreign influences combined with local "Balkan tragedy". The plot of the movie analyses how even people in small towns can be more sinful and amoral then those that live in bigger places, both the big difference is that they simply don't talk about or even when they do......It is only to their advantage. This movie suffers from a big problem, and that problem is that the backstory isn't explored and the viewer is only left to presume his own version of events. Also the local "Balkan" way of showing some things is mostly shy and afraid of what people would think about the author or those that worked on the movie. Goran is movie that has a good theme, both bad way of showing it and evolving it further......