The top 10 ex-Yugoslav movies list

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Tramuzgan's Avatar
Di je Karlo?
Just like the title says, in this thread, I will list off what I think to be the 10 best movies from Yugoslavia, and the countries left after the breakup. But first, I will give a little prologue, as well as some (dis)honourable mentions. I plan on getting really wordy, so each entry will be its own post.



What is the point of this list?

Every non-anglo on this site has probably wondered what are the best movies in their language. It's a topic I was interested in since someone suggested I look into international cinema. Look up top 10 lists for German or Russian or even Czech films, and tell me what do you see. Nosferatu and Metropolis and Das Boot and Untergang, Solaris and Vozvrachenye and Ivan the Terrible and Idi i Smotri, Faust and Marketa Lazarova and Baron Munchausen. All classic after classic. Naturally, I'd want to look up such a list for Croatian films. If we're judging by language, you could also include Serbian and Bosnian ones. We speak the same language, and have a lot of cultural similarities, one of them being that our movies are trash.

When I say trash, I don't mean in the same sense as Bollywood or DCEU movies. Our trash stinks in its own way. There's a number of traits that distinguish our bad movies from the rest, the biggest and most obvious one being over-politicization. There's nothing wrong with having political commentary in your movie, but we always handle it in an opinionated and passive-aggressive way. If you've seen that Lily Singh dumpster fire from a few weeks ago, you have a pretty good idea of what I'm talking about.
Here in Split, we use the prefix "Jugo" as a general insult, so I'm surprised that "Jugofilm" hasn't become a term yet. It can refer to any movie that's just a vessel for political opinions, regardless of where it's from. Let's start saying that. Dr. Strangelove, The World's End and Idiocracy will be political movies, while Princess Mononoke, Pan's Labyrinth and Captain Marvel will be jugofilms.

And don't tell me the Black Wave is any better. It has all the same problems, so what if it went against Tito's regime? Being historically important isn't the same as being good. If They Live was sold to China as a communist propaganda film, but not changed at all, would it still be good? Of course it would.

What's worse is that these Jugofilms are the ones to get the most attention from the media. When you look up top lists of our best movies, you'll get something like ''How the war started on my island'', which features stock characters and kindergarten-level humour, but it's political so I guess it's a 10/10.

Still, that's not to say there's no merit to ex-yu cinema. I figured if we can create something excellent in any other form of entertainment, we can make great movies. At least, enough for a respectable top 10.

By the way, I will deliberately limit myself to only 3 Kusturica movies.


The mentions


ZG80
Not good enough for the top 10, but I definitely recommend it. Plenty of good laughs.

Time of the Gypsies
I admire its soundtrack and cinematography, but beneath all that, it's just a generic gangster movie. Check it out if that's your thing.

Tko to tamo peva?
I'll be honest, I have no idea what people see in this movie. It could've been funny if the actors had pulled the sticks out their asses.

Zgode Šegrta Hlapića
I remember liking it as a little kid, but I didn't rewatch it on the grounds that if I can't stomach Disney movies, I can't stomach this. I doubt it's good enough to dethrone Inspektor Maska as the masterpiece of Croatian animation anyway.

Glembajevi and Tko pjeva zlo ne misli
Again, way too sappy for me.

Balkanski Špijun
I can see why people like this one, but it hits too close to home for me.

F20, The Show Must go On, and Južni Vetar
I can't find a good version anywhere.

Vis-a-vis
A good movie, not a yugofilm at all, but not top 10 material.

A Serbian Film
I could write better dialogue while jerking off. Terrible.

I'll start with the actual list in a minute.



Tramuzgan's Avatar
Di je Karlo?
#10 - Metastaze

Metastazes


A lot of people have compared it to Trainspotting, with it revolving around lives of thugs and junkies, but Metastaze has a lot of its own spice. It doesn't have much of a central plot, and the tone is generally more comedic. Rene Bitorajac's Krpa is the best performance on this list. He's a total quote dispenser, and makes for a great double act with Kizo. Filip and Dejo add enough down-to-earth drama to balance things out.



Tramuzgan's Avatar
Di je Karlo?
#9 - Crna Mačka, Beli Mačor

Black Cat, White Cat


Full of moustaches, guns, alcohol, trumpets and weddings, it's Serbia: the movie. There's a shred of drama, but that's not what you're here for; Black Cat White Cat is all about the characters partying, rocking out to loud brass bands, and getting into increasingly goofy situations that wouldn't feel out of place in Spongebob. It's a complete farce (the titular characters don't even do anything up until the end), and it's backed by really creative set and prop design. Seeing one of the head mafiosi seated in a portable swing with his son and grandson, a bride escaping in a cardboard box- Solid Snake style-while everyone's partying, and some rando pulling out two ornate revolvers, and so on, is something I appreciate.

Even if it's paper-thin, the drama is as wholesome as they come. The message of ''love beats all'' would normally be terribly cheesy, but how could anyone be cynical about Black Cat, White Cat? It's the perfect feelgood movie.



Tramuzgan's Avatar
Di je Karlo?
#8 - Sedam i Po

Seven and a half


How about a perfect feelBAD movie?

Sedam i po is the only movie I've ever seen that successfully rips off Stanley Kubrick's style. Specifically, the style present in the first act of Full Metal Jacket. Not only does it look like it's taking place in purgatory, but it's not afraid to make us feel uncomfortable by showing us our ugly side. Seven ugly sides, to be exact, based on the seven deadly sins, all of which apply to the average joe. Each story lasts only about 15 minutes, but they're all equally shocking and meaningful. You could argue which one's the best; Pride has some of the best writing on the list, Wrath has shock factor to spare, and Gluttony has some damn good set design, but I like how Envy ends on an optimistic message - showing us there's hope for everyone.

I'll admit Sedam i Po has its flaws, but it leaves a strong, strong impression.



Tramuzgan's Avatar
Di je Karlo?
#7 - Čovek koga Treba Ubiti

The man to kill


The Man to Kill feels like a hidden gem from the John Wayne era. Outside of its core story, it doesn't do much new, but it does everything right. The pacing is spot-on, there's a nice contrast between the foreboding Hell and the idyllic Montenegro, and there's clearly a lot of effort put into the production design. This is most apparent in Hell, where there's plenty of drawn-out scenes and environment shots which establish its culture. There wasn't a second in which I doubted it.

The rest of the movie is just a well-executed, very entertaining history drama.



Tramuzgan's Avatar
Di je Karlo?
#6 - Ciguli Miguli

Ciguli Miguli

The first of two occurrences of 50's Croatia beating a famous american auteur to the punch. This time, we beat Kubrick to Dr. Stangelove; we took a subject which could've easily spawned a jugofilm, and turned it into a 2-hour-long piss take. That's the best I can describe its tone, which is especially present in its first 15 minutes; full of fourth-wall breaks (including the characters talking to the narrator) and exaggerated acting. It's Cuckoo's Nest as directed by Maximillian Pegasus.

Of course, that wouldn't be worth spit if it wasn't funny, but it's more than funny; it's ****ing hysterical. The characters feel straight out of Looney Tunes, one of them being as much of a quote dispenser as Krpa, and there was a number of gags which made me laugh so hard I had to pause the movie.

With a title like ''Ciguli Miguli'', what else could it be?



Very cool, glad to see these overlooked sources of film get some love. Hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on a few of these to familiarize myself.



Tramuzgan's Avatar
Di je Karlo?
#5 - Ničija Zemlja

No Man's Land


That's the famous oscar winner. The themes it handles are pretty common here (the horror and confusion of war, the pointlessness of our hate for each other, etc.), but No Man's Land handles them with both skill and character. Speaking of, I think Nino is the best war movie character of the century. His confusion and inexperience is so tangible; he embarrasses himself many times, his additude towards Čiki changes (seemingly) due to idle thought, and he's generally never sure how to act.

It's a pretty glum movie in general, with every character being a detriment to the situation in some way. The French UN representative is disinterested, the British journalist just wants the ''juicy story'' to herself, and, for obvious reasons, they can't rely on either the Serbs or Bosnians to rescue them. The feeling that drives the movie is frustration at all that happened during the war, and if someone like me, who never touched a gun in his life, can understand it, you know it's 100% legit.



Tramuzgan's Avatar
Di je Karlo?
#4 - Život je Čudo

Life is a Miracle


A movie like this could only come from Emir Kusturica. Though he's often accused of being a yugo-nostalgic, this movie shows his nostalgia isn't for anything political. It's more about the ''good old times''. Simpler times, times in which all that concerned you was football, beer and rock 'n' roll.
It's chock-full of worship for everyday things like nature and family. Even something as simple as a cat hissing at a bird is given some focus. It's all enhanced by the idyllic Bosnian countryside and Kusturica's signature warm tone.
In the end, it puts you in the mood to pet your cat, take a bike ride, and generally appreciate how great life really is. It may sound sappy, but it's okay when Kusturica does it. After all, he knows how to do it right.



Tramuzgan's Avatar
Di je Karlo?
#3 - Ta Divna Splitska Noć

A wonderful night in Split


My personal favourite film on the list, and the one that convinced me it could be made. It's the example of what an average croatian film would be like in an ideal world; something born out of pure love for the art form. Inspired, original and skillfully executed. You can technically trace some influences from classic noir and Pulp Fiction, but A Wonderful Night in Split is so much of its own animal. It's not about telling one story, or establishing a world, as much as it's about creating a whole consisting of mood (wonderful), time (night) and place (Split). It's like recalling something interesting that happened to you on new year's eve.

It's shot in black and white, in the narrow streets of Split's old residential area, giving it the pleasant feeling of wandering the town drunk. Every character is just the right amount of realistic as opposed to exaggarated, no story overstays its welcome, and the town icon Dino Dvornik totally steals the show. I also appreciate the cameo from another Split muscian, Mladen from TBF. He's Dino's idiot sidekick, just standing there, not saying a word. That's just a killer injoke.



Tramuzgan's Avatar
Di je Karlo?
#2 - H-8...

H-8...


The second case of 50's Croatia beating a famous american auteur to the punch. This time, we beat James Cameron to Titanic and Quentin Tarantino to basically all of his movies. We created a drama in which we know someone will die in the end, and which has some of the slickest, best-wirtten dialogue you'll ever hear.
That, and I dare you to find me a movie with a better exposition sequence. It starts off like a news story, objective and full of statistics, but grows in tension, and eventually judgement, as the disaster draws closer. It left me literally breathless. It lets up for the majority of its runtime, and tenses up again at just the right time. Again, you can sense some influence from Hitchcock, but H-8 never feels like it's ripping off anything. It's just an amazing movie that every fan of old-school thrillers should see.



Tramuzgan's Avatar
Di je Karlo?
#1 - Podzemlje

Underground


...what did you think it was gonna be?

Everything you've heard about Underground is 100% true. It's everything Emir Kusturica stands for; fun, creativity and simple-but-touching drama.
Not unlike Black Cat, the set pieces feel straight out of a cartoon, but Underground has meaty drama to back them up. It is, not unlike Life is a Miracle, based on family relationships, but it's much more tragic here. It was genuinely heartbreaking to watch a tightly-knit community fall apart through 50 years of deception. For the whole duration, I was hoping they'd find some way to make up, but no. They go all the way down the drain, resulting in a wonderful bittersweet ending I could never spoil.



No love to Sveto Mesto or Leptirica? Not that I really loved them either but I haven't seen that many Yugoslavian films (and in hindsight, I might have given them too low ratings).
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matt72582's Avatar
Please Quote/Tag Or I'll Miss Your Responses
#2 - H-8...

H-8...


The second case of 50's Croatia beating a famous american auteur to the punch. This time, we beat James Cameron to Titanic and Quentin Tarantino to basically all of his movies. We created a drama in which we know someone will die in the end, and which has some of the slickest, best-wirtten dialogue you'll ever hear.
That, and I dare you to find me a movie with a better exposition sequence. It starts off like a news story, objective and full of statistics, but grows in tension, and eventually judgement, as the disaster draws closer. It left me literally breathless. It lets up for the majority of its runtime, and tenses up again at just the right time. Again, you can sense some influence from Hitchcock, but H-8 never feels like it's ripping off anything. It's just an amazing movie that every fan of old-school thrillers should see.

Thanks for this thread. I actually saw this movie on my IMDB watch-list (along with 1,300 other movies), but I was on a 50/60's movies from Eastern Europe binge a few months ago, and I don't think I've seen any movies from the former Yugoslavia. Besides the joys of watching a great movie and the talent to observe, it's also a history lesson.


I see this on YouTube. Subtitles embedded.



All good people are asleep and dreaming.
Well this Anglo (I suppose) has seen 2 out of 10. I guess I get an F. I'm sure you can figure out the two I've watched.



1. Čudna devojka (1962)
2. Tri (1965)
3. Čovek nije tica (1965)
4. Kako su se voleli Romeo i Julija? (1966)
5. Buđenje pacova (1967)
6. Kad budem mrtav i beo (1967)
7. Skupljaci perja (1967)
8. Vrane (1969)
9. Zaseda (1969)
10. Bubašinter (1971)
11. Mlad i zdrav kao ruža (1971)
12. Čuvar plaže u zimskom periodu (1976)
13. Miris poljskog sveća (1977)
14. Kvar (1978)
15. Nacionalna klasa (1979)
16. Majstori, majstori! (1980)
17. Ko to tamo peva (1980)
18. Ritam zločina (1981)
19. Variola vera (1982)
20. Maratonci trče počasni krug (1982)
21. Davitelj protiv davitelja (1984)
22. Varljivo leto ’68 (1984)
23. Već viđeno (1987)
24. Kako je propao rokenrol (1989)
25. Sabirni centar (1989)


26. Zajednicki stan (1960)
27. Dvoje (1961)
28. Dani (1963)
29. Tople godine (1966)
30. Ljubavni slučaj, ili Tragedija službenice PTT (1967)
31. Breza (1967)
32 Uzrok smrti ne pominjati (1968)
33. Rani radovi (1969)
34. WR: Mysteries of the Organism (1971)
35. Tragovi crne devojke (1972)
36. I Bog stvori kafansku pevacicu (1972)
37. Ljubavni zivot Budimira Trajkovica (1977)
38. Pas koji je voleo vozove (1977)
39. Paviljon VI (1978)
40. Petrijin venac (1980)
41. Dečko koji obećava (1981)
42. O pokojniku sve najlepse (1984)
43. U raljama zivota (1984)
44. Cudo nevidjeno (1984)
45. Tajvanska kanasta (1985)
46. Oktoberfest (1987)
47. Tako se kalio celik (1988)
48. Vreme cuda (1989)
49. Sveto mesto (1990)
50. Video jela, zelen bor (TV Movie 1991)
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