F20 - Jovens e Perigosos

Most people working on this project didn't do that bad of a job. I can even look aside at the fact that a few actors seemed to overact at times. But it all becomes irrelevant when the screenplay is so appalling that no amount of decent work from everyone else can save it from being a failure. The plot is very formulaic so how things will progress and end up can be easily guessed. It is filled with stock-characters who at points become caricatures. Their motivations are either stereotypical or not credible enough. We all deserved better.

I've seen some praise that the film doesn't look cheap in spite of its budget not being lavish. While that is praiseworthy in theory, it becomes pretty irrelevant when the story is this bad, the characters are so stereotypical, and the acting is uneven- ranging from good performances to those that are not.

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.

Actors were fresh. I liked that. But they didnt deliver quite well, maybe there was also little bit overreacting scenes, and the script was in some points poorly written. But i give it a 5 because its a Croatian movie and the project as the procjet was really great. Like for example camera work and the scenes was really beautifully taken. So the crew bassically did a great job!