Dudes

This movie was seen by over 600,000 people in Serbia alone which is more than any other Serbian film drew to cinemas in recent years and I read it's very popular in other ex-Yugoslav republics as well. I can certainly understand why audiences in that part of the planet flocked to see it in such high numbers. It is a first motion picture coming out of those parts in a long, long time that doesn't in any way deal with war, misery, refugees, effects of economic sanctions, death, gore, ethnic hatred... etc, choosing instead to focus on other, more cheerful aspects of life in Serbia.

And while second-time director Rasa Andric deserves praise for attempting something different, all this doesn't hide the fact that this movie is NOT very good.

It employs a basic teen premise, even though most of it's protagonists are pushing thirty, placed in the setting of drum'n'base music (which is there I guess to provide the audience with a feeling they're getting an insight into something 'cool and progressive'). Compared to similarly set Serbian movies like 1992's "Mi nismo andjeli" and 1989's "Kako je propao rokenrol", "Munje" falls well short. I never got a sense that characters I'm watching are real people in any way - most of what they said or did seemed very much laboured and contrived. Other two movies also developed a lot more characters whereas "Munje" relies far too much on two central guys Pop (Sergej Trifunovic) and Mare (Boris Milivojevic) who, frankly, are not very captivating. The two chicks also get plenty of screen time. But despite their high billing these are just throwaway roles, simply tagging along with the guys - they don't influence the plot in any way whatsoever.

Plenty of visual tricks are on display too, and that, coupled with 'the look' and music, gives this movie a feeling of the music video. And that's probably the best way to describe it - an extended music video with one dimensional characters. It's a mix of cool individual scenes that fail to add up to anything even remotely interesting.

If you want to see light-hearted, youth-oriented movies from Serbia better than this one, watch "Mi nismo andjeli" or "Kako je propao rokenrol" instead.