Fine mrtve djevojke

This movie gets my 7/10. It's not a masterpiece, but it still is a very good movie and I would recommend anyone to see it. The topic of intolerance towards "other" sexualities has been dwelled on for a while, but this is somewhat of an unique perspective, since it comes from Croatia.

The story about two lesbians who fall victims of intolerance blends rather nicely with other generalized xenophobic or just plain "weird" traits of the local society. E.g. one of the characters beats his wife and seems to hate everything that's Serbian, so a separate story could probably be told about that family.

Acting is good, but not perfect. It seems to me that many Croatian actors act very conservatively (you have a feeling that they are uncomfortable swearing, or that they just came out of theater where they did Shakespeare). But, it doesn't ruin the movie, it's still very good.

A movie was a mirror of a situation in Croatia toward sexual minorities at the time. It is directed by one of best directors in Croatia (Dalibor Matanic)and the cast is also very good (Olga Pakalović, Inge Appelt, Ivica Vidović...). Even so, the pour drama academy in Croatia makes the actors play their rolls both in theatre and on the big screen as if playing a Shakespeare tragedy. Even so, it is a "must-see" movie from modern Croatian cinematography. A dramady, a story of a 2 lesbians that rent a flat hoping to keep their things private turns around like a boomerang when the "nice", old landlady figures out their sexuality. A shocking twist makes way at the second part of the movie. Not a masterpiece, but surely a good movie that occurred in the time when homosexuality in Croatia was thought to be something seen only in USA blockbusters.

What can I say about Croatian movies? They are terrible. 60% of them are about war and 30% sucks the big time. So I usually don't watch Croatian movies. This one stayed at my desk for 9 months and finally I watched it! All I can say that it is great. You don't need a lot of money to make a god movie. All you need is a good story and good ambient in the movie.

The movie is about 2 lesbian girls that move to live together. They find a place in part of Zagreb called Tresnjevka (I know that because I live in Zagreb). Problem with Tresnjevka was it was a workers part of town. Now it isn't, but it was before 50 years. So they find an apartment in a house. Problem with the house it that it has ghosts of her own. The landlord is a women that is conservative a manipulative person. It has a son that is under big influence of his mom. On one floor there is a soldier that has Vietnam syndrome and bit's his wife every day because she can give him a son. On one floor there is a hoer. In one floor there is a guy that is holding his dead wife in his apartment pretending that she is alive. And on the last floor is gynecologic.

Can you expect what can happen in catholic and conservative Country like Croatia?

Fine mrtve djevojke or Fine Dead Girls is a really promising movie showing talent of a young director Dalibor Matanic. In some ways it is a very accurate picture of the Croatian society today. In the spotlight we see two girls (Olga Pakalovic and Nina Violic) that are looking not only for the apartment to live in, but also a place where they could lead their lives as they want to. People that they meet, and the events that occur are as dark as realistic. The palette of characters is very interesting, although I was very pleased with the performance of Inge Appelt who played the old woman. A fine dose of humor is very well mixed with scenes of brutality. Definitely a good movie that i would recommend to anyone.

Iva and Maria, a young lesbian pair, rent a favorable, nice dwelling in a less good area of Zagreb, Croatia. But unfortunately, included in the rent are the neighbors, the neighbors from hell. The curious landlady, foreigners flogging nationalists, an old man, who live with his dead wife and a man, who beat his wife regularly, are just one part of this neighbourhood. When one of the neighbors falls in love with Iva, the situation escalates - with the result of three dead people at the end. This is a story about the fight for tolerance and the own life, full of psychological shock effects and colorful pictures about suburban living in the capital of Croatia.

Suffocated life. Intolerance. Free-living. Love and love deviations. Masses of suffocated people walking through streets, shopping in big supermarkets.

Fine mrtve djevojke was the Golden Arena winner(best movie, best directing, best production...) in 2002 at the Croatian Pula Film Festival and the best Croatian movie of the same year.

8/10