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Prodhimi me i ri kinematografik shqiptar "HONEYMOONS"
merr pjese ne Festivalin e Filmit ne Venecia ne seksionin Venice Days
Film Reviews
Honeymoons -- Film Review
By Deborah Young, September 07, 2009 04:37 ET
Bottom Line: Masterful storytelling in the first co-production between Serbia and Albania.
Venice Film Festival, Venice Days/Critics Week
VENICE -- Following in the wake of Goran Paskaljevic's Serbian trilogy -- "The Powder Keg," "Midwinter Night's Dream" and "The Optimists" -- "Honeymoons" addresses the Balkan youth drain, in a tale about two young couples, one Serbian and one Albanian, who leave their countries to seek greener pastures in Europe. The story is familiar but it is told with masterful skill that involves the audience deeply in the social and family context of the would-be emigres. The film has the distinction of being the first Serbian-Albanian co-production and offers a rare glimpse into today's Albania, which has only recently begun to emerge on the international film scene.
Audiences who already appreciate the director's subtle cinematic storytelling will be surprised to find a new streak of Balkan humor in the Serbian part of the tale, not the cruel ironies of "The Optimists" but comedy of a more traditional, open-hearted kind, where grotesquely real characters get smashed at a jolly wedding presided over by actor Lazar Ristovski. Albanian co-scripter Genc Permeti, instead, contrasts the wildly different lifestyles of backwoods and city folk in a country rocketing out of the worst form of Communism and into a trashy West.
The stories of the two young couples run parallel throughout the film. On a remote mountain somewhere in Albania, a mother weeps for her son, who has been missing since trying to cross over into Italy years before on a rubber raft. His fiancee Maylinda (Nirela Naska), poised between tradition and the modern world, is courted by the missing boy's brother Nik (Jozef Shiroka). But their marriage is impossible under the circumstances and, as a last resort, Nik procures Italian visas for the two of them. While attending a cousin's wedding in Tirana, they sneak away and elope.
If the Albanian story is dramatic, the Serbian tale is more relaxed. Belgrade-dwellers Vera (Jelena Trkulja) and her cellist husband, Marko (Nebojsa Milovanovic), visit Vera's hometown for a cousin's wedding. Vera's father (Petar Bozovic) and uncle (Ristovski) are on different political wavelengths and have been feuding for years. The uncle's party is the swaggering winner, the father's the bitter loser, and the wedding brings tension to a head.
Paskaljevic is a master of framing and long takes, in which one emotion follows another like waves in the same shot. The weddings expertly blend humor and drama, closeups and group photos, hope for reconciliation and its negation. The last part of the film turns genuinely frightening as it details, in a more predictable narrative framework, Vera and Marko's train journey to Hungary and Nik and Maylinda's sea voyage to Italy. The fact that the two couples never meet is immaterial, since viewers will have no trouble paralleling their stories, but it does short-circuit the expected emotional payoff in a subtle, open-ended finale.
Production company: Nova Film, Beograd Film, Ska-ndal
Cast: Nebojsa Milovanovic, Jelena Trkulja, Jozef Shiroka, Mirela Naska, Bujar Lako, Ylika Mujo, Lazar Ristovski, Petar Bozovic, Danica Ristoviski, Fabrizio Buompastore, Domenico Mongeli, Aron Balazs
Director: Goran Paskaljevic
Screenwriters: Goran Paskaljevic, Genc Permeti
Producers: Goran Paskaljevic, Ilir Butka, Nikola Djivanovic
Director of photography: Milan Spasic
Production designer: Zeljko Antovic, Durim Neziri
Costumes: Lana Pavlovic, Durim Neziri
Editor: Petar Putnikovic
Sales Agent: Nova Films, Paris
95 minutes
Venice 2009 – Venice Days, Serbia/Albania
Paskaljevic returns with not-so-romantic Honeymoons
Serbian director Goran Paskaljevic returns to Venice after his highly acclaimed The Powder Keg, which screened in the festival in 1999. This time, with the first-ever Albanian-Serbian co-production Honeymoons, selected in Venice Days.
Shot in two countries over two different moments, Honeymooon’s Serbian and Albanian actors had never met until this morning, when most of the film’s cast was on hand to present the world premiere.
The film follows two young couples over the course of the same day: the first emigrates from Albania to Italy, the second from Serbia to Hungary. Their difficulties begin when the reach their respective borders. The backdrop to both stories is a bombing in Kosovo, against UN peacekeeping forces. It will play a significant role in the main characters’ destinies as the so-called global war on terror has become synonymous with mistreating “undesirable” immigrants.
The director further looks at the aftermath of the Balkan War and the Hoxha dictatorship in Albania, and how the younger generations must still pay for the actions of their fathers. In particular, the subsequent economic instability after years of bloodshed and oppression that still drives people from their homelands for a better life abroad, where they are not always welcome. However, unlike The Powder Keg, the open ending in Honeymoons leaves some hope for a brighter future.
“The Balkans are still a powder keg,” said Paskaljevic at the film’s Q&A, “but I hope that will cease once Serbia enters the European Union.” When asked if he was really sure EU entry would be the solution, he countered: “Well, you’re in the EU, you tell me!”
He was also asked whether he had any problems with the police in any of the countries in which he shot, like the characters in his film. He did not, but, he said, “I must admit I don’t like the police anywhere, especially border police.”
When speaking of his experience on the film, Serbian actor Nebojsa Milovanovic (who appears in The Powder Keg and in Paskaljevic’s The Optimists of 2006), lightened things up. For his role as an aspiring cellist, he learned to play the instrument and said: “Orchestra musicians told me they study 20 years to play the Schumann piece I learned to play in one month. But I only learned three seconds of it. And I told them, the biggest difference is that I’m an actor, pretending to play the cello!”
Honeymoons was co-produced by Serbia’s Nova Film and Albania’s Ska-ndal Productions for €900,000. French company Nova Film International has already sold it to France (Zoom) and Spain (Wanda Vision), and is currently in negotiations for Italy as well. The film will next be seen in the Masters sidebar of the Toronto Film Festival.
Natasha Senjanovic
Nations go on 'Honeymoons'
Paskaljevic takes risk with co-productions
By NICK HOLDSWORTH
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Serbian director Goran Paskaljevic risked the ire of nationalists at home and in Albania when he set up the first co-production between the acrimonious Balkans nations.
"Honeymoons," playing in the Venice Days sidebar, is the result of an idea sparked by the enthusiasm with which audiences received his work when he attended Albania's Tirana Film Festival, which was screening three of his films, in 2006.
"The audiences loved my films and nobody asked me the questions that always tend to come -- about Serbian relations with Albania over Kosovo," Paskaljevic said, referring to the Albanian-dominated territory that until last year was part of Serbia.
It was only when Paskaljevic began work on the script, co-written by Albanian painter and writer Genc Permeti and the Albanian National Film Center agreed to co-finance the $1.3 million project that "nationalists from both sides attacked it."
With events heating up in Kosovo around the same time, the film was put on hold for six months before Serbian funding came through, allowing shooting to go ahead late last year.
The story of two couples -- one Serbian, the other Albanian -- who share identical dreams of escaping to a better life in Europe, "Honeymoons" continues a Paskaljevic theme of how the past exerts a grim grip over the present in the Balkans.
Paskaljevic points out a deeper message, about the common desire in Serbia and Albania to rejoin the European community of nations and of the film's power to promote reconciliation.
"We don't know each other and yet we are neighbors. Our goal is to encourage public debate about the problems between the two countries," Paskaljevic said.
The film should also boost Albania's slowly emerging film industry.
"This is a great showcase for Albanian filmmaking, demonstrating that we can attract a director of Goran's standing to a film where cast, crew and locations were all shared between our two countries," said Permeti.
The film, which has distribution deals for France and Spain, is due for its Serbia premier in Belgrade Nov. 24 and will open the Tirana Film Festival five days later.
Honeymoons
(Serbia-Albania)
By LESLIE FELPERIN
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'Honeymoons'
Jozef Shiroka and Mirela Naska arrive in Italy in 'Honeymoons.'
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A Nova Film, Beograd Film (Serbia)/Ska-ndal (Albania) production, with the support of the Serbian Ministry of Culture, the Albanian National Film Center, the Apulia Film Commission. (International sales: Nova Film Intl., Paris.) Produced by Goran Paskaljevic, Ilir Butka, Nikola Djivanovic. Directed by Goran Paskaljevic. Screenplay, Paskaljevic, Genc Permeti.
With: Nebojsa Milovanovic, Jelena Trkulja, Jozef Shiroka, Mirela Naska, Bujar Lako, Yllka Mujo, Lazar Ristovski, Petar Bozovic, Danica Ristovski. Albanian, Serbian, Italian, English dialogue.
Thoroughly satisfying as both a drama and an exploration of deeper sociopolitical issues, Serbian writer-helmer Goran Paskaljevic’s “Honeymoons” juxtaposes stories of two couples longing to escape Serbia and Albania. Given its clear-eyed but not excessively cynical stance on the problems facing each nation, it seems appropriate that the pic should rep the first-ever co-production between the countries. Displaying typical skill with ensemble storytelling, Paskaljevic has fashioned a compelling work that ought to enjoy a honeymoon on the fest circuit and moderate success in its countries of origin, with possible pickups offshore, especially in neighboring territories.
Pic’s entwined storylines both feature couples trying to escape their homelands, and several other major and minor motifs. It’s stressed that the tales are unfolding at the same time, but the quasi-mystical tone found elsewhere in Paskaljevic’s work (“How Harry Became a Tree”) is largely absent, replaced by a more realist register, rooted in the here and now.
The Albanian-set section revolves around a poor provincial family. Three years ago, eldest son Iler set off for Italy in a rubber boat to make his fortune and was never heard from again. Mother Veno (YllkaMujo) refuses to believe he’s dead, while Iler’s father, Rok (Bujar Lako), and younger brother, Nik (Jozef Shiroka), tacitly accept the probability. Iler’s fiancee, Maylinda (Mirela Naska), lives among them, unable to return to her own family because of tradition, but she and Nik secretly have feelings for one another.
When the family heads to the capital for a cousin’s wedding, Nik reveals he’s arranged visas for himself and Maylinda to go to Italy, and they slip away by boat. But they’re met with suspicion and hostility on their arrival, and Nik is held back, suspected of involvement in the killing of two Italian soldiers in Kosovo.
Meanwhile, in Serbia, professional cellist Marko (Nebojsa Milovanovic) and his wife, Vera (Jelena Trkulja) also leave home to attend a cousin’s wedding, a rambunctious -- and finely staged -- affair that Vera’s uncle (Lazar Ristovski) has contrived explicitly to piss off his invalid brother (Petar Bozovic), Vera’s father. As the raki flows, arguments percolate and violence looms, reinforcing the young couple’s decision to go by train to Vienna, where Marko has an audition for the Vienna Philharmonic. But they face almost exactly the same border troubles experienced by Nik and Maylinda.
Naturalism is strained slightly by the need for the characters to explain complex backstories from time to time, but otherwise, the script by Paskaljevic and Albanian writer Genc Permeti moves at a pacy clip that nevertheless lets each plotline develop in timely fashion. Never one to apologize for his homeland’s brutal excesses, Paskaljevic paints the Serbs in a slightly less flattering light than the Albanian characters, but the onerous weight of absurd traditions and pointless feuds is felt in both storylines.
Perfs are solid and harmoniously tuned throughout, with particularly good thesping from Lako and Mujo and appropriately big-gestured turns from Paskaljevic regulars Ristovski and Bozovic as the brothers who hate each other with a passion.
Milan Spasic’s lensing comes into its own in night scenes especially, and looks good enough to suggest that the decision to shoot on HD was motivated by aesthetics as much as budget. Other tech credits are fine.
Camera (color, HD-to-35mm), Milan Spasic; editors, Petar Putnikovic, Kristina Pozenel; production designers, Zeljko Antovic, Durim Neziri; costume designers, Lana Pavlovic, Neziri; sound (Dolby Digital), Branko Neskov; sound designer, Velibor Hajdukovic. Reviewed at Venice Film Festival (Venice Days), Sept. 2, 2009. Running time: 95 MIN.
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APERTURA | di Silvana Silvestri - VENEZIA
Il Kosovo fa paura
Intervista con Goran Paskaljevic, il suo «Honeymoons» al Lido parla di migrazioni e (false) democrazie
Titolo dolce, Honeymoons, dedicato alla luna di miele, ma durissimo nel suo svolgimento: è l'ultimo film Goran Paskaljevic, applaudito alle Giornate degli Autori. Con la Polveriera il regista ci aveva portato nel clima esplosivo che viveva la Serbia, Honeymoons è la dimostrazione di come il cinema può raggiungere risultati impossibili alla politica, superare confini invalicabili. Per la prima volta Paskaljevic grazie alla sua forza artistica, al rispetto che gode in tutta l'area balcanica oltre che internazionale, è riuscito a realizzare una coproduzione serbo albanese, film girato tra Vojvodina, Serbia, Albania, Ungheria per approdare poi in Italia (grazie all'Apulia Film Commission).
Tra i film d'argomento politico, così numerosi a Venezia 66, questo ci sembra uno dei più seri e avanzati, soprattutto se pensiamo che lo vedranno serbi e albanesi, in una sorta di specchio che mostra situazioni e umanità non così diverse. Si intrecciano le storie di due giovani coppie che decidono - e non per disperazione - di varcare i confini dell'Unione Europea. Due giovani albanesi vogliono lasciare il paese sui monti con il suo rigido codice che non è solo una tradizione, ma legge e riescono a imbarcarsi. L'arrivo a Bari, però, è di imprevista durezza. Nell'altro episodio, due sposini serbi si mettono in viaggio perché lui, violoncellista, ha un'audizione al teatro di Vienna e la frontiera ungherese sarà altrettanto respingente. La parola pericolosa che compare sui passaporti è Kosovo. Film non solo politico, ma anche poetico, dove tutte le barriere iniziano si fanno insostenibili e dove le forme di razzismo sono ovunque: «L'elemento politico - spiega il regista Paskaljevic - è la nostra vita. Se uno filma la vita come è, è quasi obbligato a far vedere la politica, in maniera molto presente. Se tocchi il tema degli albanesi e dei serbi, tutti si aspettano un film molto più politico di questo, ma io penso che sia più umano, invece...» . Si ha l'impressione di un film in cui serbi e albanesi si guardano come in uno specchio: «Noi siamo vicini e non ci conosciamo per niente. Per quarant'anni, per i serbi era impossibile andare in Albania e anche loro non potevano uscire dal paese. A volte guardavano la televisione serba, conoscevano le canzoni serbe. Quando abbiamo deciso di girare questo film insieme, i nazionalisti ci hanno attaccato da una parte e dall'altra. Siamo molto fieri di essere riusciti a farlo, di aver dimostrato che siamo capaci di realizzare delle cose in collaborazione. In futuro, se la Serbia entrerà a fare parte dell'Europa non ci sarà più il problema del Kosovo e i nazionalisti perderanno terreno. È come il problema dell'emigrazione, così presente in questo film: non si può lottare contro l'emigrazione con i carri armati. L'Italia è il luogo dove sbarcano gli emigranti che arrivano sulle imbarcazioni. La politica di Berlusconi è per contrastarli, ma è una guerra perduta in partenza. L'Europa deve aiutare questa gente a sviluppare le loro democrazie, perché se le persone vivono meglio nel proprio paese non hanno più voglia di lasciarlo. Anche in Francia (io ho la doppia nazionalità serba e francese), i maghrebini sono considerati un problema, ma sono stati depredati di tutto nel corso di un secolo, senza migliorare la loro vita. I dittatori e la classe politica hanno preso tutto il denaro. Occorre una ripartizione dei beni e una politica non arrogante. Qualcuno può pensare che il mio film sia un po' contro l'Italia. Piuttosto, è contro la politica berlusconiana. L'Italia non è Berlusconi, come Milosevic non era la Serbia».
Come intellettuale e cineasta, pensa che sia possibile contrapporsi in una situazione che sembra senza via d'uscita come la nostra? «Anche noi abbiamo conosciuto questi problemi. In Italia sarà difficile far arrivare questo film (in Europa però è già stato comprato, ndr), acquisteranno film americani per macinare soldi. Non è più questione di ideologie, l'unica ideologia è il denaro. In Serbia non ci sono ideologie né di destra né di sinistra, tutto è mischiato, la classe politica cerca solo di arricchirsi. Ho impiegato due anni per fare questo film, sapevo che era la prima coproduzione serbo-albanese, l'ho fatto per mostrare quali sono i problemi reali, ma al tempo stesso sapevo che non avrei guadagnato soldi. Non ci si deve arrendere, solo questo posso dire, anche se al momento non si sa come uscirne e se nessuno si arrende, tutto ciò metterà in moto un'energia capace di cambiare il mondo. Altrimenti si diventa schiavi». C'è in Serbia questa energia? «Siamo sommersi dai problemi e non possiamo uscirne da soli. Qui vi lamentate che Berlusconi ha tutto il potere sui media e che attraverso i media controlla il paese: è lo stesso anche da noi, oggi la televisione è l'arma più forte che si può avere».
Il film mostra razzismo ovunque: «Il nazionalismo aumenta perché è più facile dire: voi serbi siete migliori, piuttosto che stilare un programma economico. Il 60% votava per Milosevic e oggi nessuno dice di aver votato per lui, il fatto è che si vota per il più forte. Tutta l'Europa va verso destra; è accaduto il contrario di quello che si voleva quando è stata fondata l'Unione europea. L'Europa è un po' come la Jugoslavia di Tito, una federazione ispirata al re Alessandro di Jugoslavia. I nazionalismi hanno spezzato questo modello e penso che ciò possa colpire anche l'Europa».
LINKS
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118008206.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2597
http://www.venice-days.com/newsphotogallery.asp?idnews=201&idimmagine=190&offset=0
http://news.cinecitta.com/news.asp?id=29547
http://mag.sky.it/mag/cinema/2009/09/05/venezia_honemoons_goran_paskaljevic.html
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film-reviews/honeymoons-film-review-1004009696.story
http://cineuropa.org/newsdetail.aspx?lang=en&documentID=112516
http://www.ilmanifesto.it/il-manifesto/argomenti/numero/20090906/pagina/03/pezzo/259203/
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