Man Is Not a Bird (1965)
"Covek nije tica" (original title)

A love romance between older, respectable engineer that came in the industrial town to do some expert job and young hairdresser in whose house he stayed in and the consequences of that ... See full summary »

Director:

Dusan Makavejev

Writers:

Dusan Makavejev, Rasa Popov

Stars:

Milena Dravic, Janez Vrhovec, Eva Ras

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Milena Dravic	...	Rajka
Janez Vrhovec	...	Jan Rudinski
Eva Ras	...	Barbool's Wife
Stole Arandjelovic	...	Barbulovic 'Barbool'
Boris Dvornik	...	Vozac kamiona
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dusan Antonijevic	...	Zeleznicar
Dusan Bajcetic
Mirjana Blaskovic
Djurdjevka Cakarevic	...	Operska pevacica
Roko Cirkovic	...	Rocco hipnotizer
Djordje Djurdjevic	...	Operski pevac
Mitja Gregorac	...	Operski pevac
Dusan Janicijevic
Ilija Jovanovic
Ljiljana Jovanovic

Storyline

A love romance between older, respectable engineer that came in the industrial town to do some expert job and young hairdresser in whose house he stayed in and the consequences of that relationship, especially after young driver gets involved.

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Plot Keywords:

love | engineer | belgrade | beethoven | circus | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Details

Country:

Yugoslavia

Language:

Serbo-Croatian

Release Date:

6 March 1965 (Yugoslavia)

Also Known As:

Man Is Not a Bird

Company Credits

Production Co:

Avala Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

User Reviews

Interesting

The debut feature film of Yugoslavian director Dusan Makavejev, best known for his films WR: Mysteries of the Organism and Sweet Movie. These are the three films of his I've so far seen (and, along with Man Is Not a Bird, I also own two more in a recently released Eclipse box set). He's very clearly a unique director. Man Is Not a Bird is kind of a mixture of avant garde, semi-documentary film-making mixed with wry comedy, social realism of the sort you often see from countries behind the Iron Curtain and French New Wave stylistic touches. It's a real mishmash, but it works pretty well. If the stories of the film had been a tad more interesting, I could see this film having a greater impact. As it is, it follows a couple of stories in the mining town of Bor, one involving a middle-aged man who has arrived in the town to work as an engineer. He begins an affair with a much younger hairdresser (Milena Dravic, who is also featured in WR). The other major plot line involves a worker at the smelting plant who treats his homely wife cruelly. Much like Sweet Movie, which is by far my favorite Makavejev film so far, the true value of the film is in its gorgeous imagery, here in black and white. Makavejev especially finds wonderful ways of shooting Milena Dravic, with whose form he seems obsessed at times. I would say this doesn't feel like a fully-formed film, but it's definitely of interest.