Cabaret Balkan (1998)

Random Belgrade citizens interact with each other in a night full of crime, frustration, betrayal and revenge.

Director:

Goran Paskaljevic

Writers:

Dejan Dukovski (play), Dejan Dukovski

Stars:

Aleksandar Bercek, Vojislav 'Voja' Brajovic, Bogdan Diklic

7 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Aleksandar Bercek	...	Dimitri, the Crippled Ex-Cop from the Local Cafe
Vojislav 'Voja' Brajovic	...	Topi, the Ex-Student Revolutionary Trafficker (as Vojislav Brajovic)
Bogdan Diklic	...	John, the VW Driver
Nebojsa Glogovac	...	The Chain-Smoking Taxi Driver
Mirjana Jokovic	...	Ana, the 'Flirt' on the Bus, George's Girlfriend
Mirjana Karanovic	...	Natalia, Mane's Ex-Fiancee
Predrag 'Miki' Manojlovic	...	Mane (Michael), the Homecoming Man (as Predrag-Miki Manojlovic)
Toni Mihajlovski	...	George, the Eternal Culprit, Ana's Boyfriend
Nebojsa Milovanovic	...	The Bosnian Serb Son Who Doesn't Want to End Up Like His Father
Dragan Nikolic	...	John's Boxer Friend
Lazar Ristovski	...	The Boxer Who Takes the Train
Nikola Ristanovski	...	Boris, the Esoteric Cabaret Artist
Ana Sofrenovic	...	The Desperate Young Woman on the Train
Sergej Trifunovic	...	The Young Man Chewing Gum Who Takes the Bus Hostage
Mira Banjac	...	The Bosnian Serb Mother

Storyline

In Beograd, mid-1990s, 20 people's paths crisscross one night in rage and theater. A callow youth dents a car; its owner hunts him down and trashes his father's flat. Michael, back from abroad, hopes to reclaim Natalia; her new, younger lover seems outclassed. A Bosnian drives a bus to eke out subsistence; his son works the Black Market for a sadist. A cabby buys drinks for a cop he crippled in revenge. Swarthy friends at a gym confess betrayals of each other; violence erupts, then one menaces a woman on a train. Another young woman, traumatized when a knife-wielding youth commandeers her bus, calls for help and ends up with a gun at her head. It's a cabaret macabre.

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Plot Keywords:

serbia | bus passenger | hoodlum | bus | based on play | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence including an act of sexual assault, strong language and some drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Paramount Classics

Country:

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia France Greece Turkey

Language:

Serbian

Release Date:

1 August 1998 (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)

Also Known As:

The Powder Keg

Filming Locations:

Belgrade, Serbia

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,774, 25 July 1999

Gross USA:

$108,103

Company Credits

Production Co:

MACT Productions, Ticket Productions, Vans

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

French visa # 93543.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Mickey Blue Eyes/The Adventures of Sebastian Cole/The Muse/Teaching Mrs. Tingle/Cabaret Balkan (1999)

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Soundtracks

Divertimento D-dur II stav, Köchel 136
Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

User Reviews

Details are important

This movie impressed me a lot, however the fine details and message of this movie might very easily escape the unwary viewer. I was lucky to watch the movie with a friend from Ex-Yugoslavia who could point out what exactly lied behind every small gesture or circumstantial hints hidden in a single sentence.

The characters in this movie are in a constant dilemma, half self-inflicted, half caused by higher powers. Yugoslavia at that time is isolated - mentally, economically, morally. There is no valve to let of the steam, so the people take on themselves, murdering, plundering, threatening and raping. Almost every character is shown to be not fully guilty, but nevertheless brought down by their own acts of violence. The bus scene especially shows that the Yugoslavian people have forgotten to take their fate in their own hands. A young men is fed up with the system, his wasted life and the apathy of his people in general. The best scene in the movie for me

Tragic-comically ends this scene like the whole movie. The whole plot takes place one day before the Dayton agreement, another twist of fate, that just on this day those people lose their lives for nothing and absolutely nothing.

When you watch this movie you have to realize the deeper message has been made for the Yugoslavian audience to show them the mechanizations of their lives and their own guilt going with it. He tries to hammer this in the minds of the viewers hence the compressed plot and intermingling of scenes. A masterpiece.