Shadows (2007)

The son of a reputable physician struggles to live up to other people's expectations of him.

Director:

Milcho Manchevski

Writer:

Milcho Manchevski

Stars:

Borce Nacev, Vesna Stanojevska, Sabina Ajrula

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Borce Nacev	...	Dr Lazar Perkov
Vesna Stanojevska	...	Menka
Sabina Ajrula	...	Dr. Vera Perkova (as Sabina Ajrula-Tozija)
Salaetin Bilal	...	Gerasim
Ratka Radmanovic	...	Kalina
Filareta Atanasova	...	Gordana
Dime Ilijev	...	Ignjat Perkov
Petar Mircevski	...	Blagojce
Vladimir Jacev	...	Siskin
Goce Vlahov	...	Professor Kokale
Ana Kostovska	...	Radmila
Zaklina Stefkovska	...	Paca
Izabela Novotni	...	Izabela
Ilko Stefanovski	...	Dr Karpuzovski
Vanja Radmilovic	...	Ivana

Storyline

If we were to choose one man who's got everything going for him, then Lazar Perkov would be an excellent choice. He is young, good-looking, has a beautiful wife, lovely little boy, great house and a good job as a hospital physician. In fact, everyone calls him Lucky. Nothing's missing - except maybe Lucky himself. When Lucky is involved in a disastrous car crash and mysteriously saved from a sure death, his life begins to change... (written and directed by Milcho Manchevski, with Borce Nacev, Vesna Stanojevska, Vladimir Jacev, Sabina Ajrula... Toronto International Film Festival 2007)

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Plot Keywords:

skopje macedonia | infidelity | hallucination | mother son relationship | macedonia | 

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Taglines:

Sometimes the dead speak louder than the living

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Official Sites:

Bavaria Film International Official website

Country:

Republic of Macedonia Germany Italy Bulgaria Spain

Language:

Macedonian

Release Date:

2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Shadows

Filming Locations:

Saramzalino, Macedonia

Box Office

Budget:

€4,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Blue Eyes Fiction, Camera, Classic

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Macedonia's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008).

User Reviews

Disappointing

I am very disappointed after watching Manchevski's film this evening. I came to the screening with his masterpiece "Before the Rain" in mind but some of the elements that struck me most about the film were endlessly recycled imageries of death/memory/temporal boundaries, exoticized depictions of landscape, identity and cultural otherness, tautological and often overstated motifs of death and desire, which literally drown the spectator into a sea of clichéd, old-fashioned psychological thriller formulas. Don't get me wrong, I like films which foreground their rich, highly-tuned semiotic texture and which interweave symbolic structures skilfully and compellingly. But here this twofold directorial temptation towards the symbolic and the literal doesn't quite pay off cinematically. The music is great, some of the montage is also powerful, the initial spatio-temporal build-up promising, but the film never quite takes off for me. The surreal, nightmarish, ghostly presences that populate the screen and Lazar's troubled mind amount, in my opinion, to some of the interesting cinematic effects of the film.