Mirage (2004)
"Iluzija" (original title)

As Macedonia faces its difficult transition, a boy escapes into a world of his own creation.

Director:

Svetozar Ristovski

Writers:

Svetozar Ristovski, Grace Lea Troje

Stars:

Vlado Jovanovski, Marko Kovacevic, Jordanco Cevrevski

5 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vlado Jovanovski	...	Lazo / Marko's Father
Marko Kovacevic	...	Marko
Jordanco Cevrevski	...	Neighbor (as Danco Cerveski)
Elena Mosevska	...	Angja / Marko's Mother (as Elena Mose)
Slavica Manaskova	...	Fanny / Marko's Sister
Mustafa Nadarevic	...	Teacher
Martin Jovchevski	...	Levi (as Martin Jovcevski)
Nikola Hejko	...	Chernobyl (as Mykola Hejko)
Kiril Gravcev	...	Grafche (as Kiril Grafcev)
Todor Jonovski	...	Lefko
Ivica Mackinoski	...	Cviker
Marija Sikalovska	...	Jasmina
Ivica Bojkovic	...	Urko
Ivica Barbarelov	...	Cobra
Ivan Spasov	...	Romeo

Storyline

Marko has a poet's sensibilities in Veles, a town in war-torn Macedonia. His sister is a bully, his mom's a doormat, and his dad is a striking factory worker who drinks and plays bingo. At school, Marko is tormented by thuggish fellow students, led by the loutish Levi, the son of a police captain. Marko's teacher of Macedonian, a Bosnian, sees promise in Marko's writing and gives the lad hope that he can someday escape Veles. A chance friendship with a thief who's passing through town furthers Marko's education. Is hope a mirage? What sort of fatherland is Macedonia?

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Plot Keywords:

macedonia | hope | student | teacher | drink | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Macedonia

Language:

Macedonian Albanian

Release Date:

30 May 2007 (Poland)

Also Known As:

Mirage

Filming Locations:

Veles, Macedonia

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$1,511 (USA) (17 March 2006)

Gross:

$1,511 (USA) (17 March 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Small Moves

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Svetozar Ristovski's first attempt at directing a feature film; his prior work included the short film Hunter (2000) and the documentary Joy of Life (2001).

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Connections

References Top Gun (1986)

User Reviews

the best Balkan movie made in 2004

i've seen this movie recently, on Belgrade Film Festival (FEST), and i was delighted. although nobody expected it (numerous movies were shown on FEST, from across the world, some of them hailed by film critics - like "Vera Drake", directed by Mike Leigh), "Iluzija" was the best film shown of festival, and not only because of the "clever metaphors", or actors performances (although both of this elements are excellently controlled), but because of straight, concentrated, well-narrated story, with clear and precise beginning-middle-end structure, and with lots of details that are creating dangerous and mean universe (picture of Balkan under NATO "protectors") of the movie. of course, viewer who knows facts about Macedonia-Balkan-ex-Yugoslavia can see some of the best artistic comments on reality of the countries in so-called "transition", and also political-incorrectness (if you consider the critic of EU-USA attitude on "small countries" to be uncorrected). and when you are thinking about the movie in-whole, you can realize why's there a Nietzsche quotation on the movies beginning. but, there's a lot of philosophy in it, so we are leaving that story for another time, and another place...