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The Transition (Prehod)Directed by Boris Palcic, 2008 Review by Rada Djurica When considering film in the Balkan region of ex-Yugoslavia today, most viewers only remember glimpses or characteristics, never a genre. That's because Balkan film usually does not conform to specific genres but, instead, focuses on themes. When a country starts to recognize different genres, that can be considered a positive form of progress, which each genre appealing to a certain type of audience. This change of cinematography, no matter how slow, is a transition worth noting. This year, FEST 2009 -
The International Film Festival, after years of silence, presented
Slovenian cinematography, a small but pretty effective industry. Slovenian
productions nowadays tend to be low-budget. Producing an average of
five films per year, these filmmakers nevertheless manage to take home
awards from festivals all over the world. Slovenia's success can be
attributed to experienced scriptwriters, who know the Slovenian audiences
won't accept a copy of Western films, and won't accept social political
drama. At FEST 09, a Slovenian film directed Boris Palcic, The
Transition (Prehod) [SITE HAS SOUND], stood out in part
because it was a genre film. As the film begins, a painter Vlado, paints a portrait in a trance of an unknown woman. This woman actually comes to his exhibition, and the result of this meeting turns out to be a fatal attraction. The fantastic love affair results in turbulent events, involving a tangled web of suicide, death and a mysterious international organization, ZOM. His investigation leads Vlado to a dangerous sect, bent on behind-the-scenes manipulation. The victims of ZOM, he learns, are young men skillful at mind games, and the result of their entanglement, suicide or murder. This skillful psychological thriller is about the manipulation of the system. More often then ever before, we are watched with cameras everywhere, fertile ground for a story about a painter who gets caught up in an international secret system. It appears this system controls everything — the biggest banks, politicians — and only Vlado's ignorance protects him from their manipulation. There is, of course, also a love story, based loosely on scriptwriter Franci Slak's experiences when his girlfriend fell under the powerful influence of Scientologists. Out of bitterness, Slak wrote this script. Slak, who was a respected Slovenian film director, intended to direct the film himself but died last year before he got the chance. So the film was directed instead by Boris Palcic, a professor at the University of Philosophy in Ljubljana. The combination of an interesting screenplay and an expensive film production, led not only to box office success but also to reciving an audience award for Best Slovenian Feature Film at the Slovenian Film Festival. Credit is also due to Slovenian actor Jure Ivanušic, who plays Vlado. His character in very Shakespearean, showing evidence of Ivanušic's theatre background. Ivanušic studied at the Film Academy in Ljubljana, as well as studying classic piano in Graz, Austria. He primarily works in theatre, along with actor Rade Sherberdzija, in the Ulysses Theatre, where he won renown for his role in King Lear. In a theatre play called Mozart, he embodied the famous composer in a production that became the biggest show in Slovenia. "This film didn't have a premier in Slovenia, but it received
First Award of Audience at the Slovenian Film Festival, which means
that the audience already accepted this film. In the film, we [speak]
English, Slovenian, and Italian... and through its subject, [the film]
speaks in many languages; so it can travel, because the subject of manipulation
in public and media is a global matter. This film might be interesting
to a worldwide audience; and the film has traveled to festivals in Trieste
and Berlin. And it will be shown in Paris soon," said Jure Ivanušic. |
