F20

I watched "F20" twice and I do have to admit that only the second time I managed to catch all the little details to which I couldn't pay attention the first time I saw the film. At first, you are completely immersed into the story since the pacing is flawless and you don't have any time to notice, for example, the lead's character's name in the video game. Once you can focus your attention to read it and once you realize what it is, even the title of the film gets another meaning. It seems that the fimmakers paid their utmost attention to every detail, making this film one of rare European genre films that actually delivers on its promises. Once the story starts unraveling, it doesn't stop till the very end and you definitely appreciate the ride. Young leads are great, the music is awesome and the song performed in the club is really excellent.

WARNING all of the uber negative comments must of been written by the same persone.

• A reviewer says, "It was just another Croatian film that underestimates its audience by showing absolutely every average member of society as incompetent." so an english teacher in a film represents all english teachers of the world and if that teacher fails to teach 1 student something that means, following the "logic" of this guy, every english teacher in the wrold is incompetent ?
• Here we go again, COMMENT #2 again, "adults are villanized in a cheap attempt to make the youth more symathetic" how about the director tried to raise the stakes?? Why would the girl run from her father, where would the tension come from if the father was a gentle, understanding man? Than she would be just another rebelious teen and you'd complain she's too clishe, there's such a thing called suspension of disbelief, it's expected, it's A MOVIE.
• ALSO "the slang is based on stereotypes"? Yes, and? I've heard those same convos a thousand times, word-for-word, so what? If they had a twist on it of their own, you'd say it's too weird, unrealistic, no one speaks like that.
• Subjective 8, objective 5.5 It's a good time, short but sweet, with a li'l bit of cringe, a perfect film for a rainy day.

I watched this film at the Croatian national film festival in Pula, among the crowd of several thousand people and it was truly an eye opener. It is no wonder that the film has received a very high audience vote, one of the highest in the past 10-15 years of the festival. The way the story was told, the way it was performed by actors, the way it was designed, shot and edited and the way the soundtrack was chosen, it was indeed like watching one of top quality Hollywood genre films, with a touch of European flavor. Kudos to the filmmakers who succeeded in holding attention of several thousand audience members in Pula's ancient Roman arena, and drawing a long lasting applause after the end of the screening. It was good to know that Croatians are capable of producing a smart genre film that makes sense and that can be suspenseful, entertaining and emotional.

This film strived to offer something different compared to other local films. While the genre is not typical for its country, the element of novelty wasn't present because we are all exposed to other "international" films of this genre. The intention was further nullified by the fact that the story was predictable. It was like a mishmash of things already done numerous times in other films of the genre.

The title of the film itself could be called a "spoiler" and it is elaborated immediately in the beginning but perhaps it would have been better if the meaning of the title was revealed more gradually because like this we aren't left to guess. On top of that, the film relies on coincidences a few times- sometimes so one can turn a blind eye but on some occasions it seemed too much to give it a pass. The film's target audience was teenagers, which can be proved by the fact that two local influencers were engaged to promote it. However, the screenwriter, director and producers are middle-aged men so they incorporated their assumptions about today's youth without seeming to have experience with it. Youth is portrayed as being interested in solely wild partying and wild behavior in general, plus at the same time they are all bad students.

The relations between old and young are clichéd as well and the adults are villainized in a cheap attempt to make the youth more sympathetic. Furthermore, not only was the story predictable but the dialogues were as well. And both weren't credible. The slang used by young people in the film is based on stereotypes.

The film didn't intend to be deep but pure fun, which can be acceptable, but when things are presented this badly, it doesn't succeed in at least this.

The film was promoted as bringing something fresh into Croatian cinema and it completely failed to do so. Everything was typical and actually probably done even worse than usual. It was just another Croatian film that underestimates its audience by showing absolutely every average member of society as incompetent.