Tesna koza (1982)

User Rating:

8.6/10   

Director:

Mica Milosevic

Writers:

Ljiljana Pavic (co-writer)
Sinisa Pavic (writer)

Release Date:

6 December 1984 (Hungary)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

In this light, fluffy comedy, a low-level clerk cannot make ends meet because his brood is in no way...

Plot Keywords:

Cult Comedy | Teacher | Lodger | Family Conflict | English Teacher

Cast

Nikola Simic	...	Dimitrije Mita Pantic
Milan Gutovic	...	Srecko Sojic
Rahela Ferari	...	Mitina majka
Ruzica Sokic	...	Persida Pantic
Irfan Mensur	...	Profesor 'Japanac'
Jelica Sretenovic	...	Podstanarka
Danica Maksimovic	...	Mira Pantic
Nada Vojinovic	...	Sojiceva sekretarica
Aleksandar Todorovic	...	Sasa Pantic (as Sasa Todorovic)
Gojko Baletic	...	Branko Pantic
Predrag Tasovac	...	Lekar
Bogic Boskovic
Lepa Brena	...	Pevacica
Vladan Zivkovic	...	Oliver Nedeljkovic
Ljuba Pavlovic

Also Known As:

Тесна кожа (Yugoslavia: Serbian title)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

Yugoslavia

Language:

Serbo-Croatian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Film Danas

Trivia:

One of the two all-time top grossing movies in Serbia other one being Zona Zamfirova (2002)

Soundtrack:

Dobro jutro

Seeing that it's not ridiculous enough for camp, it's just bad.

From a 26-year distance, I'm almost tempted to wax-poetic while surrendering to "Tesna koza"'s nostalgic aspects... but I won't.

Considering this was its highest grossing motion picture ever, is it any wonder Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia disintegrated in a bloodthirsty orgy blending various flavours of pent-up hatred. Not to be too harsh and cynical about it, but, damn, this movie is W-E-A-K. Low-rent screenplay, stale gags, and single-take acting aside, it's the lack of any plot that is the most objectionable. It's almost as if they knew what a huge commercial hit it would become, so they apriori decided to leave the attempts at coming up with a remotely coherent storyline for the sequels. Another problem is the focus on Pantic and his home life instead of on his relationship with Sojic or on Sojic himself. Thankfully, this was also later rectified in the sequels.

Created and conceived by Sinisa Pavic, probably the most prolific writer ever to work in Yugoslav and Serbian film and television, "Tesna koza" is one of the centerpieces of his bloated, predictable, and, lately, persistently tedious career opus. Now, the movie still has some brief moments - a few jokes do hit the spot - but they're far too isolated in a sea of low end mediocrity.

Anyway, our hero Mita Pantic is a jumpy, highstrung fiftysomething bureaucrat living with a pain-in-the-ass housewife and three unappreciative grown children as well as a crabby mother and an antagonistic subtenant who's assigned a room in their apartment through a bylaw introduced by Yugoslav commies and enforced for decades in order to cope with housing shortages. Pantic's career is hardly anything to write home about either - he works as a junior clerk at a crumbling commie company under a farcically corrupt boss Srecko Sojic.

And that's literally it. That's the "plot" - Pantic shouts, he gesticulates, he launches into exhausting semi-tirades...

There is also a handful of half-ass storyline attempts on offer: high school professor who teaches English to Pantic's son falling in love with their subtenant, Pantic betting on soccer fixtures and winning some money, Pantic being offered a bribe at work, and Sojic promoting an incompetent young typist just to be able to bang her.

Honestly, any way one looks at it, this barely even qualifies as a feature movie. The only things that tangibly separate it from a slapped together TV production are the occasional swearing and the extended shots of Sojic secretary's naked tits as well as Lepa Brena's (oh yes, she's in the movie too) long legs and plunging decoltage.