Oh boy, I think half of ex-Yugoslavia came to watch Parada. Half the theatre laughed at distinctly different timings: One half to the subtitles, the other to the spoken dialogue. I’ll brag a little and say that I fell into the latter category a few times.
Parada
Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia 2011, Srdjan Dragojevic, 115′
A Serbian small-time gangster and war veteran wants to marry his girlfriend and somehow ends up needing to protect his gay wedding planner who wants to organise a gay pride parade in Belgrad even though groups of nationalists and skinheads have promised to destroy any attempt at doing so. He rounds up an impossible troupe of Croatians, Muslim Bosnians and Kosovarians and in the process learns a lot about life.
Seldom have you seen a movie that rides so much on every possible stereotype for joke material, be it homosexuals, nationalist skinheads, trashy girlfriends or any of the Yugoslavian people. It is very easy for such a film to turn positively revolting with banality. “Parada” however absolutely avoids this, because none of those groups is spared and while everyone dishes out on each other, they also take all “abuse” with a big heap of self-irony as they get to know each other. It was full of lovely little details, such as one scene where the Serb and the Croat make a cross: Catholics (Slovenians and Croats) first touch the left shoulder, while Orthodox (Serbs) will touch the right shoulder first. It showed quite realistically that people bond over the most banal things and that this is really all it takes sometimes. Our gangster’s evolution was just lovely, he starts out like a typical macho gangster but almost from the first minute it is absolutely clear that he really is a good person at heart and just needs a good thorough reality check. All of it beautifully transported the endearingly naive hope that somehow everything will work out if we just stop hating each other and start to listen.
Highway
Nepal, USA 2011, Deepak Rauniyar. 80′
A man and his wife have trouble conceiving. He travels into the mountains to talk with a healer. He receives a potion but it will only work for 36 hours so now he has to return as quickly as possible to Kathmandu. The bus he travels on is full of people who also need to be somewhere for various reasons, but progress is slow with road blockades, accidents, traffic jams and an ageing bus.
A very solid first work. The shots and colours make for great visuals, helped by the either exotic or plain beautiful sights of Nepal. The music is mostly fitting; not every piece feels right, sometimes it is a little off but it does never really hurts the atmosphere. Throughout the journey we learn about the passengers; who they are, what makes them take up the arduous journey to Kathmandu. The stories and their placement manage to tell just about enough to be interesting but are always short enough not to take away the feeling of a road movie. For anyone who has at least a little curiosity it is a quite rewarding look into a few typical issues of life in modern Nepal
As every year, I’m excited about all the films you’re writing about. (Most highly appreciating your taste in choosing the perfectly obscure films, as you know! :3)
Ever since Himalaya (the one that got an Oscar nomination) I’ve wanted to watch another Nepali film, also because there don’t seem to exist so many of them. Looks like I’ve found my next one.