Dir. Uroš Stojanoviæ
Reviewed by Matt Adcock
"Carlston za Ognjenku or a Serbian 'Amélie'?"
Tears for Sale is a phantasmagorical rom-com which does have elements of Jeunet's film but Uros Stojanovic brings a powerful new fantasy voice to the cinematic world.
We’re in World War I where a Serbian village is starved of men due to the war… We meet two feisty sisters - Ognjenka (Sonja Kolacaric) and Mala (Katarina Radivojevic). Their job are to be professional crying / sobbing providers who wail at funerals for money.
Things don’t look good when the last man in their village – the two sisters have to go on a quest to find and bring back some new men for the ladies. Oh and the spirit of their late grandmother (Olivera Katarina) haunts them – and will never be at peace until they complete their mission.
On their travels the girls find Iron Man Dragoljub (Nenad Jezdic) and his smooth dancer pal Arsa (Stefan Kapicic). Can these two men revive the village or might they actually fall in love with the sisters?
Tears for Sale is a fun romp stacked with crazy characters and situations from writer Aleksandar ‘A Serbian Film’ Radivojevic. But unlike that shock-em-up this film is funny and sexy with a very dark sense of humour.
"The girls on their mission for men"
Sonja Kolacaric and Katarina Radivojevic work well together – with sparky chemistry that makes this weird and wonderful fairy tale world that Terry Gilliam would be proud to call his own. It gets pretty saucy at points too (as I found out while watching this on a packed train!?).
The DVD looks excellent and the quality of the picturesque visuals are pin sharp. Everything about Tears for Sale is just the right side of the genius / madness divide.
Darkmatters rating: öööööööö (8 freaky Serbian scenarios out of 10)
2 comments:
This post brings me back in time.
Hot on the heels of TIFF 2010 ending, you have reminded me of watching this movie during TIFF 2008...And I whole-heartedly agree with you on how wonderful a film it is!
I think back to be so very tired the evening this film was scheduled to play, and coming this close to giving away my ticket. But had I done that, I never would have witnessed that unforgettable final dance.
Great post mate - hopefully more people track down this gem.
away your tiket, but had i done that. yeah
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