The Elusive Summer of '68 (1984)

For the young man who lives in Serbian province town, the maturing coincides with the turbulent political events of the year 1968.

Director:

Goran Paskaljevic

Writers:

Gordan Mihic, Goran Paskaljevic (screenplay)

Stars:

Slavko Stimac, Danilo 'Bata' Stojkovic, Mira Banjac

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Slavko Stimac	...	Petar Cvetkovic
Danilo 'Bata' Stojkovic	...	Veselin Cvetkovic
Mira Banjac	...	Majka
Mija Aleksic	...	Deda
Ivana Mihic	...	Vladica
Andrija Mrkaic	...	Tadija
Sanja Vejnovic	...	Ruzenjka Hrabalova (as Sanja Vejinovic)
Dragana Varagic	...	Jagodinka Simonovic
Neda Arneric	...	Olja Miranovski
Miodrag Radovanovic	...	Predsednik suda
Branka Petric	...	Leposava
Dragan Zaric	...	Direktor gimnazije
Predrag Tasovac	...	Gospodin Ilic
Branko Cvejic	...	Kum Spasoje
Milutin Butkovic	...	Spasojev otac

Storyline

Set against the backdrop of a liberalization in Tito's Yugoslavia in 1968; across Europe, youth thunders against war, for freedom of speech, sexual revolution. The youth of Yugoslavia in Belgrade come out to support their brothers in spirit from Paris, also join these performances. A comedy about the coming of age of Petar as he looks for love just about anywhere, now that he has discovered it exists. His father Veselin is a distant sort who wants him to focus on his grades so he will have a chance at a good future (and be a good Marxist), but Petar's card-shark of a grandfather understands and offers him the advice he needs. Meanwhile, Petar has a crush on his beautiful sociology teacher and wreaks havoc with his academic standing by trying to get back at her for bathing in the river with her male companion. This affront to his feelings is soon forgotten when he meets a charming young miss who is visiting the town with a youth orchestra -- and love takes off from there.

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Plot Keywords:

year 1968 | socialist federal republic of yugoslavia | balkans | europe | cold war | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Did You Know?

Connections

References Summer of '42 (1971)

User Reviews

Movie title correction

This is not a review but a correction of the English title, which is inaccurate. "Elusive" means difficult to find, catch, or achieve, difficult to remember or recall,indefinable, intangible, impalpable, or ambiguous. Serbian word "varljivo" primarily refers to frequently changing weather. This is quite clear from the movie dialogue when the judge mentions the summer and his young daughter characterizes it as "varljivo" because there are frequent rain showers. Figuratively, she might also imply the word to mean the political instability because of serious student protests all over Europe including Belgrade. She became interested in politics since she had a crush on a much older student who became involved in the protests.

The title would be much more accurate if the epithet used in front of "summer" were to be one of the following: precarious, variable, unstable, unbalanced, volatile.

Details

Country:

Yugoslavia

Language:

Serbo-Croatian

Release Date:

31 January 1984 (Yugoslavia)

Also Known As:

The Illusive Summer of '68

Company Credits

Production Co:

Centar Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color