Sweet, good hearted micro budget drama based on the real life of it's lead Milan Mumin, who was a rock star in Serbia, but who makes a living driving a cab in New York. In this lightly fictionalized version of his life Mumin writes songs while driving his cab, and has saved up money to start recording an album just as his Serbian girlfriend comes to visit with the goal of getting Mumin to give up his ideas of glory in the US, and to come home and get a real job. At the same time Mumin is developing a crush on his new bass player, a flinty New York single mom.
But likable though it all is, a few things keeps this from succeeding on the same level as the somewhat similar 'Once'. First, the acting just isn't that great. There's a stiffness to the improvised seeming chatter, and a sense that in many characters we're watching amateurs in over their heads. Also – and this is personal taste – Mumin's US music just doesn't seem that great, his lyrics awkward and forced. For me that made it harder to all out invest in rooting for his success. And last, it feels a mite predictable, with characters staying pretty much to what we think they'll be. That certainly seemed to be the case for the Serbian girlfriend who is introduced as the sort of villain of the piece, unsupportive and selfish and basically stays there.
But likable though it all is, a few things keeps this from succeeding on the same level as the somewhat similar 'Once'. First, the acting just isn't that great. There's a stiffness to the improvised seeming chatter, and a sense that in many characters we're watching amateurs in over their heads. Also – and this is personal taste – Mumin's US music just doesn't seem that great, his lyrics awkward and forced. For me that made it harder to all out invest in rooting for his success. And last, it feels a mite predictable, with characters staying pretty much to what we think they'll be. That certainly seemed to be the case for the Serbian girlfriend who is introduced as the sort of villain of the piece, unsupportive and selfish and basically stays there.