QUICK’N DIRTY: LIVE FROM SARAJEVO
Zoran has a daily ritual. He works for a Serbian reality show, pulling the overnight shifts while watching the contestants sleep in case anything interesting happens. The only real action occurs when he dons a ninja-like outfit and restocks the refrigerator for the contestants. After work, in the morning, he returns to an apartment he shares and sleeps on a sofa. He wakes up, and soon he’s back at work, watching the contestants sleep and restocking the refrigerator yet again.
It’s not a thrilling routine, but Zoran seems to find himself in a rhythm he likes, or at least one he can tolerate. This routine, though, isn’t the core of Yugo Florida, Vladimir Tagić’s debut feature starring Andrija Kuzmanovic as Zoran. It’s the events that disrupt the flow of Zoran’s life that remind him of lessons he’d already learned years prior, mostly thanks to his stubborn and easily-irritable father Vesa, played by Nikola Pejakovic.
The script of Yugo Florida – named after Vesa’s deteriorating hatchback car – provides layers with which the performers can easily work. What could simply be an extended metaphor based on the titular vehicle and the character of Vesa becomes so much deeper with each scene that passes. Zoran is a complicated man with a frigid relationship with his seemingly uncaring, borderline estranged father, a man who has no problem viciously insulting his son when he doesn’t pick up the right cable for his old car.
The film doesn’t hold back in letting the viewer sit in their discomfort during moments like these, experiencing the dirty, awkward and unpleasant intricacies of life, the details over which we generally don’t like to spend much time fretting. Yugo Florida portrays them for what they are: the bad that goes with the good. Part of the deal we strike when we’re born and must subsequently live amongst people we care about.
There are plenty of threads throughout the film that pop up and have their moment in the sun. A its core, however, this is a movie about searching, scratching, and clawing for some sense – any sense – of control in our lives. We want to feel like the masters of our world, and the world has no problem reminding us that this is simply not the case. Kuzmanovic delivers a stellar performance as Zoran, deftly oscillating between listlessness and manic outbursts of passion. A tempest created by the forces of ennui and rage sitting deep in the chest and mind of Zoran. Kuzmanovic straddles that line with humanity and tenderness.
The storytelling is very effective. The few sequences that break the intentional pace of Yugo Florida are carefully timed. It reminds one of recent works by Joachim Trier: largely based around compelling dialogue between characters with the occasional directorial flourish. Tagić does justice to the story’s delicate balance between frustration and empathy that we can often feel for our loved ones.
There are enough relatable nuances within Yugo Florida: the film is messy, imperfect, awkward, but sprinkled with moments of compassion and the occasional breakthrough. A decidedly life-affirming film.
Yugo Florida just world premiered in the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival.
