Pusan Film Festival Reviews 2: The Optimists (Goran Paskaljevic)
Another pitch-black comedy from the director of "Cabaret Balkan," "The Optimists" is a similar gathering of loosely connected tales set in modern-day Serbia. In the film's gripping opening sequence a man drifts through a village completely submerged by floodwater and offers the gift of "optimism" via hypnosis to its depressed populace huddled in a warehouse; in the end of the segment he is revealed as a mental institute escapee. In another an enraged factory worker wants to kill his slick mobster boss after the boss rapes his daughter. The cops are all owned by the boss, none of the worker's friends offers to help him seek justice, and his wife pleads with him not to go through with anything rash ("What would we do if you're arrested?"). The man ends up apologizing to the boss for "offending" him, and getting his daughter to do the same - she'd bitten off part of the thug's ear as he was foisting himself on her, and she mumbles an apology for being so "inconsiderate."
At turns horrible and funny, "The Optimists" suffers under the weight of what one imagines can only be the director's unkind view of his countrymen. It would seem that Serbs are stupidly optimistic despite whatever hell may befall them, and the country is a swamp (visualized in the film's opening segment) where crooks and con men rule. In the few instances of anyone showing genuine kindness, he who does so ends up getting screwed for it, and perhaps it's best that it remains every man for himself. The cynicism of the film leaves an unpleasant taste, though it does have some darkly hilarious stretches.
Another pitch-black comedy from the director of "Cabaret Balkan," "The Optimists" is a similar gathering of loosely connected tales set in modern-day Serbia. In the film's gripping opening sequence a man drifts through a village completely submerged by floodwater and offers the gift of "optimism" via hypnosis to its depressed populace huddled in a warehouse; in the end of the segment he is revealed as a mental institute escapee. In another an enraged factory worker wants to kill his slick mobster boss after the boss rapes his daughter. The cops are all owned by the boss, none of the worker's friends offers to help him seek justice, and his wife pleads with him not to go through with anything rash ("What would we do if you're arrested?"). The man ends up apologizing to the boss for "offending" him, and getting his daughter to do the same - she'd bitten off part of the thug's ear as he was foisting himself on her, and she mumbles an apology for being so "inconsiderate."
At turns horrible and funny, "The Optimists" suffers under the weight of what one imagines can only be the director's unkind view of his countrymen. It would seem that Serbs are stupidly optimistic despite whatever hell may befall them, and the country is a swamp (visualized in the film's opening segment) where crooks and con men rule. In the few instances of anyone showing genuine kindness, he who does so ends up getting screwed for it, and perhaps it's best that it remains every man for himself. The cynicism of the film leaves an unpleasant taste, though it does have some darkly hilarious stretches.
