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White White World

Beli, beli svet

Germany, Sweden, Serbia

2010

121 Min

Color

Serbo-Croatian

Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
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SCR Oleg Novković, Milena Marković

CAST Uliks Fehmiu, Hana Selimović, Jasna Djurišić, Nebojša Glogovac, Boris Isaković, Milica Mihajlović, Marko Janketić, Meto Jovanovski

Locarno (International Competition): Best Actress, Mar del Plata (International Competition): Special Mention, Tribeca (Viewpoints), CPH PIX (It Came from the East), Transilvania (Supernova), Helsinki (Balkanize!)

Synopsis

In the decaying town of Bor, lives handsome and dangerous bar owner King, a former boxer, with a nasty head scar. Vita is wild and beautiful. Her mother, Rosie, after years in prison, struggles to keep her tamed. Tiger a pusher and thief, admires Vita. One evening, King notices Vita. Fed up with her mother, Vita runs off with Tiger. They visit the bar, where King’s admiration becomes desire. Jealous, Tiger fights King but manages to land only one blow to King’s forehead. King is in love for the first time but he is torn between tenderness and cruelty. Vita runs with Tiger to the big city, King finds them and again fights Tiger. This time the blows to the head leave him blind. Tiger OD’s and dies. King and Vita return to Bor and marry. –fcs.rs

Director

Oleg Novković

Oleg Novković (b. 1968, Belgrade) studied film and television direction in his native city at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, where he was taught by Srdjan Karanović, a graduate of FAMU. In 1993 he made his directorial debut Say Why You Are Leaving Me (Kaži zašto me ostavi), which won awards at festivals at home and abroad. His filmography includes a number of television programmes and full-length documentaries, among them Normal People (Normalni ljudi, 2001), Invisible People (Nevidljivi ljudi, 2002), Children (Deca, 2002), Picnic (Izlet), and Goodbye, Mama, I Am Leaving (Dovidjenja, mama, ja idem!), both 2003. He first worked with writer Milena Marković on the screenplay and shooting of the documentary Miners’ Opera (Rudarska opera, 2005). Novković won a Nipkow Programme Fellowship (1998), took part in a Master Class under the aegis of the European Film Academy (1999) and works on international projects. —Karlovy Vary IFF

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Matt Richards

5Nov11

Within a poisoned town engulfed by a giant copper mine and industrial dispute the film jumps between characters who all want someone or something that doesn't want them. Complex relationships between father, mother, lover, daughter and the distinct feeling that we are all going down with the ship. Characters break into song throughout and the half-way bombshell is great but the first 3rd was hard going. 3 stars

msmichel

16Oct11

FNC '11 Strange mix of kitchen sink drama, balkan melodrama and musical (!!!). Story is of little consequence; a woman gets out of jail after killing her spouse ten years before and attempts to win the heart of her old lover who may have designs on her daughter instead. The singing scenes are awful maybe purposely maybe not. It really just doesn't work. By the final full villiage anthem one wants earplugs.

cam.oran

20Oct11

This will sound angrier than it should be, but I really wish people would stop using the word Balkan unless they're enumerating peninsulas. Also not melodrama, but (greek) tragedy. And of course it's on purpose, they all sound like out of tune instruments, that's the bloody point. And it's not a village anthem (village? really?), but a choir of (real-life) miners, so you'll have to excuse them for the lack of technique. It's not Slumdog Millionaire.
msmichel

20Oct11

Would certainly like to know what the "bloody point" was than. This was certainly not greek tragedy either. I apologize for the balkan term I stand corrected.

Les films du miroir magique

18Sep11

Un film noir noir qui, au départ, peine à susciter l'intérêt, tant les personnages sont rustres et brutaux. Mais progressivement se dégage une passion forte, qui ne démérite pas du projet de tragédie grecque annoncé par Oleg Novkovic. Le recours à des complaintes chantées par les personnages permettent une distanciation salutaire, un peu d'oxygène humaniste, dans la promiscuité animale.

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Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.

Locarno 2010. Awards

By David Hudson on August 13, 2010

Li Hongqi, photographed by Massimo Pedrazzini for the Locarno Film Festival.The Locarno Film Festival's Golden Leopard goes to Li Hongqi

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