Déjà vu

In my opinion, "Vec vidjeno" is the best movie of Goran Markovic (and all of them are great), one of the best Serbian directors.

It's done in cognizable Markovic's way. The story is great (it is by Markovic, also), acting of Mustafa Nadarevic is superb, Zoran Smijanovic's music is excellent as everything else in this movie.

It is a horror movie, which is not a typical Yugoslav genre, [besides "Davitelj protiv davitelja" (which is more like comedy) and "Leptirica" I can't think of another], but it is done in a way that Hitchcock would envy.

If any film deserves the Oscar then this is the one!

Vec vidjeno is the gem in Goran Markovic`s opus. Markovic is in my opinion the best Yugoslav director of all time, and his movies in a satirical way perfectly portrayed society and social distorsions in Yugoslavia at the end of 70`s and up to the mid 80`s. Vec vidjeno (or also known as Deja Vu), is however looking on the other side of life, and horror, with the unavoidable elements of society`s flaws, raging from before World war II, up to mid 70`s where the plot is set. This is the most complete, griping and artistic Yugoslav movie that takes you by surprise and stares right in your face up to the very end

Once a promising concert pianist, slaphead Mihailo (Mustafa Nadarevic) teaches music at a university, where he falls for pretty fashion expert Olgica (Anica Dobra), who uses men as her playthings. Starting a sexual relationship with Mihailo, Olgica tries to convince him to perform in a televised stage show that she is producing, which she hopes will make her famous and enable her to move out of the small apartment that she shares with her alcoholic father and younger brother. However, Mihailo begins to lose his marbles when events start to mirror his troubled childhood, and after Olgica ditches him for a karate instructor, the pianist is pushed over the edge and becomes homicidal.

There's not really much in the way of horror in Reflections, the majority of the film focussing on Mihail's deteriorating mental state, flashbacks to his formative years, and Olgica's ruthless manipulation of men, but it still held my attention thanks to decent performances and an intriguing storyline. The film eventually delivers some suspense and nasty violence in the final act, when Mihailo has his murderous meltdown, the insane ivory tickler pinning Olgica's father to a door with a knife, stalking her brother, and slicing the karate dude with a sabre (the man's almost severed hand flapping around, hanging by a strip of flesh). Olgica pays for her scheming ways when Mihailo throttles her as she is showering (even in communist Yugoslavia, they understand the importance of a gratuitous shower scene!).

5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

This movie is a Yugoslav hidden gem. In my opinion, definitely in top 3 Yugoslav movies. The acting of Mustafa Nadarevic is superior, but other actors did a great job as well.

This movie reminded me of Hitchcock's movies, except that this movie is even better. I would like to add that the director Goran Markovic not only directed this movie but also wrote the story, so I have a huge respect and admiration for this man.

It covers interesting topics such as trauma from the events that happened in protagonist's youth- from communists bumping into his family's apartment, taking it over and dividing it in half to trauma from his parent's fighting and divorce, etc. When a new woman arrives to his workplace and he becomes intimate with her, the protagonist starts experiencing deja vu's often and over time loses his sanity which is going to lead to fatal consequences.

This movie works better as a psychological drama, horror aspect is just a spice which concluded the gloomy atmosphere that was building up throughout the whole movie.

Mustafa Nadarevic really gave a monumental performance, he amazingly portrayed a deeply troubled and emotionally scarred middle aged man in the cynically socialistic world created by Goran Markovic.

It is important to look at this movie rather as a dark drama than a horror flick. Markovic has paid a great homage to the Yugoslav Black Wave movement with this one. His communist Yugoslav society was dr Frankenstein who was creating and shaping his monster for decades and in the end monster has done its bidding and in the process incepted its legacy further (kind of predicted the future of our society in the upcoming decade(s)).

From the technical standpoint movie was done carefully, but with a lower budget. The horror element is lacking the good ol' scare, except maybe for the last shot of the movie. The lack of real dread component is why I gave it 9/10. Nevertheless, it doesn't take much from it, the plot is phenomenal and it keeps you glued to the screen until the very end.

The sad fact is that we do not have more movies like this one, with the exception of the Yugoslav black wave examples and some early Markovic's movies I can't really find more. Maybe T.T Syndrome but even if it was influenced by Deja Vu it is was a much weaker work, although Zecevic's film is quite scarier thanks to the brilliant performance by another talented artist Dusica Zegarac. She set an example how just a facial expression can scare you more than an intense jump scene or gallons of blood and guts.

For me this is a 9/10 film it has a very smart plot, great acting performances (especially Nadarevic and Dobra), stylistically was done very well, very atmospheric. If you are into thought provoking movies that are well made this one is highly recommended.