Sedam i po (2006)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Miroslav Momcilovic

Writer:

Miroslav Momcilovic (written by)

Release Date:

14 September 2006 (Serbia and Montenegro)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Pedophile | Stairs | Profanity | Pride | Video Tape

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Branislav Trifunovic	...	Keboja
Nikola Vujovic	...	Radule
Milos Timotijevic	...	Tadija
Marija Karan	...	Koviljka
Branko Vidakovic	...	Obrad
Boris Komnenic	...	Radoje
Nenad Jezdic	...	Adam
Gordan Kicic	...	Srdjan
Natasa Markovic	...	Verica
Ljubinka Klaric	...	Zorica
Milan Gutovic	...	Voditelj
Nikola Djuricko	...	Simke
Boris Milivojevic	...	Konda
Mira Stupica	...	Milica
Srdjan Miletic	...	Musa

Also Known As:

Antihristi (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Serbo-Croatian title) (working title)
Seven and a Half (UK) (festival title)

Runtime:

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia:106 min

Country:

Serbia and Montenegro

Language:

Serbo-Croatian

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

New Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

7 stories from the hood are intertwined with the same leitmotif of Seven Mortal Sins, in a dark humorous way dealing with everyday lives of the people of New Belgrade.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This is Momcilovic's directorial debut although he has already established himself as a cult screenwriter of "Kad porastem bicu Kengur" (When I Grow Up I'll Be a Kangaroo") 2003.

7 stories from the hood are intertwined with the same leitmotif of Seven Mortal Sins, in a dark humorous way dealing with everyday lives of the people of New Belgrade (Novi Beograd) who are obsessed with their weaknesses and driven by passions. Nothing human is strange to them and they don't hesitate to go beyond morality since they have a concept of their own ethics.

In GREED story two bums want to trick football legend Diego Maradona sending him pathetic photos and video tapes and asking him for a financial help because of a fake health problem – an action which leads them to the madness of growing greed. ANGER story is about a bodybuilder hooked on steroids who wants to revenge for a humiliation once faced as a kid. In LUST story two middle aged guys share the same voyeur passion – they meet by Internet chatting and dating by faking real identities. They love to watch pictures of young girls but never cross the line of pedophilia. In GLUTTONY story a couple of cocktail party lovers who visit art exhibition openings in order to eat and drink, * SPOILER* this time accidentally eat off a modern art installation – human fat jelly. In PRIDE story a married couple exposes private dirty laundry in front of millions of watchers of TV quiz program. In SLOTH story two sophisticated 'waiting-for-godott' thieves who are lazy enough to climb upstairs to the top of the skyscraper to break and entry rich men's apartment end up in a place they've never dreamed of. In ENVY story two middle aged idlers envy a Bosnian refugee, a man who started his own fast food business…

All seven stories merge into a catharsis finale.

Yet the story of Seven Mortal Sins doesn't tend to moralize – it discovers that there is and should be a moment of catharsis and redemption although the characters make mistakes. Their lives, in Christian terms, aren't sinful, and their weaknesses are caused by the context we live in.

Therefore, this story repeatedly calls out for laughter. To conquer the fear and problems, to be self-ironic to laugh at themselves – it's the way of transcending one's pain. The heroes get hurt by the fact that they need so little but at the same time so much to be happy.

Momcilovic's narrative style is almost naturalistic but in a final scene it turns out to be surrealistic, emotionally exploding then floating off in melancholy.

The movie title gives a wink both at Fincher's dark thriller Se7en and Fellini's 8 ½ but has its autonomous aesthetics and idea.