Mamulian

This slowburn dark folk (not really a) horror tale plays out in a small, derelict village in a pleasant but rather impoverished part of southeastern Serbia, in southeastern Europe. Through nice photography we are witnessing this family drama basically, encompassed by tacked-on pagan/Slavic symbolism and mythology, even some kind of a ''pagan'' cult (which doesn't make too much sense since the Orthodox Christianity in Serbia is already inherently merged with the old Serb/Slavic faith through Saint-Savaism).

Anyway, the decrepit village and eponymous mudbrick house look authentic here, since this ancient type of house-building (with mud as a binder) - can still be seen - or are refurbished for modern rural living, - in different parts of the country. What isn't too realistic though, is the family's grip on this grandfathers run-down old house in the countryside, and to see the brother (Paul) coming down from london like he inherited a castle, makes for a bit dubious premise, and the movie doesn't really offer a secret reason why the house is so much important to them. The other brother (Jakov) is played averagely by Andrew Howard (from a nice little film Mr InBetween, and here he looks and speaks like Niko Belic for some reason, which is fine by me). The rest of the cast, whom I've only seen for the first time here, are equally average.

Film's early promising, but ultimately unfulfilled vague 70's folk horror-reminiscent/pagan aesthetic doesn't offer much, and it barely, let alone deeply, touches upon it and nothing seems really dangerous nor frightening, which is the biggest deficiency here. One wonders if the creators actually even wanted this to be marketed and even made, as a truly 'horror' film, or merely a tribute to the older homegrown folk stories.

It did look nice though, didn't drag too long and I certainly appreciated the effort.

5.8/10.

Lepa Sela Lepo Gore (1996) is probably the Serbian director's finest movie.

Skilfully made story of life and death of a few people in a few days of the civil war in Bosnia, and days (and decades) that succeeded and preceded it all. In the vein of classic Serbian black humour-filled dramas, and also tracking in the steps of the classic (anti) war movies, this movie has a lot going for it - good story (based on a true experience of one group of Bosnian Serb soldiers during the war) and a tight and slick photography and editing, considering it's time and the circumstances (the filming was done in the area which was a battle zone just a few months before and in a country under sanctions at the time), and an inspired cast of good actors make this movie a class above.

An honest and entertaining war drama/dark comedy from start to finish, and, as mentioned, this film nicely puts together feel of the classic war films with the mid90s (early QT) nonlinear/flashbacked and cool feel to it, to make up this thrilling ride into the hell of a war.

A great watch. 8/10.

Specijalno Vaspitanje (1977) (Special Education)

Low budget, down to earth, personal and quite charming Serbian drama about a community in a juvenile/abandoned kids educational center located on the outskirts of Belgrade. It's centered around two juvenile "inmates" (one fairly experienced and one fresh-cut) and their relationship with their new pedagogue in life they share inside and outside the juvenile center. It has a nice grainy and realistic look to it - typical of the cinema of the era, and some nice 70s funk aswell.

Specijalno Vaspitanje is pretty much great little ''real socialism" movie.

8/10.