REVIEWS PANORAMA SPECIAL
Serb-Cro-Mac-Slov. 2011. 115mins Director/screenplay Srdjan Dragojevic Production companies Mainframe Production, Sektor Film, Forum Film Ljubljana, Film & Music Entertainment, PRVA Srpska Televizija, Viba Film Studio Ljubljana, RTV Slovenia International sales Wide Management, www.
widemanagement.com Producers Biljana Prvanovic, Srdjan Dragojevic Co-producers Dejan Jocic, Igor Nola, Vladimir Anastasov, Eva Rohrman, Nikola Kojo, Mike Downey Cinematography Dusan Joksimovic Editor Petar Markovic Production designer Kiril Spaseski Music Igor Perovic Main cast Nikola Kojo, Milos Samolov, Hristina Popovic, Goran Jevtic, Goran Navojec, Toni Mihajlovski, Dejan Acimovic, Natasa Markovic
The Parade REVIEWED BY MARK ADAMS
A rude and raunchy challenge to Balkan homophobia, The Parade (Parada) may be the most un-PC film around, but it smartly celebrates those very un-PC qualities as it turns trans- gression into comedy, detailing the very real battlefield between machismo and gay pride. Written and directed by Srdjan Dragojevic, The Parade has
proved to be a surprise success in the Balkans, and Serbia in particular where it has achieved more than 500,000 admissions. And this in a country where 5,000 police had to guard the 1,000 people who made up the 2010 Gay Pride march. The film may intrigue buyers aware of its comedy success, though whether gay and lesbian festivals will embrace it remains to be seen. It is broad comedy fare that revels in its stereotyping and
takes no prisoners with its deliberately scattershot approach. Dragojevic directs with a good deal of intelligence, and is very much aware his unsubtle characters offer an entertaining look at the culture clash between brutal Balkan machismo and a gay community that suffers violent attacks with little support or assistance from the authorities. The film sets out its position right from the start. It opens
with a glossary of slang terms — ‘Shiptar’ (derogatory term for Kosovar Albanians), ‘Chetnik’ (for Serbs), ‘Ustasha’ (for Croats) and ‘Balija’ (for Bosnians) — that the various factions in the Yugoslavian war used about each other… but ends pointing out that the term ‘Peder’ is the one that unites the factions when they refer to homosexuals. The two worlds come together when Lemon (Kojo), an ex-
criminal and war veteran has to rush his pet pitbull terrier to the vet after it is the victim of a shooting. The dog is saved by vet Mirko (Jevtic), who is appalled by Lemon’s bombastic behaviour. Mirko is the partner of Radmillo (Samolov), who runs an agency that organises weddings and has been approached by Lemon’s fiancée Pearl (Popovic) to organise their wedding. Gay activist Radmillo, who is planning Belgrade’s Pride
march, eventually agrees to organise the wedding on the condi- tion that Lemon, who runs a judo gym and security company, will provide security for the march. Lemon reluctantly accepts the demand, but when his staff all refuse he is forced to recruit old enemies from his wartime days, with Mirko (in his bright pink mini) at his side. They manage to sign up Croat Niko (Navojec); Bosnian Mus-
lim Halil (Acimovic) and Kosovo Albanian Azem (Mihajlovski), and they return to Belgrade to face their greatest challenge: pro- tecting the march for marauding homophobic skinheads. The characters are all drawn broadly, though the wonderfully
stony-faced Nikola Kojo holds the film together, with Hristina Popovic also amusing as the determined Pearl. Her finest moment comes when she slips on a flack-jacket to help Lemon and his men fight off the skinheads — but only agrees to help if it will take an hour, as she has parked her car at a meter.
Flying Swords Of Dragon Gate OUT OF COMPETITION
Chi. 2011. 125mins Director/screenplay Tsui Hark Production companies Film Workshop, Bona International Film Group, China Film Group, Shanghai Media Group, Beijing Polybona Film Publishing Company, Beijing Liangzi Group International sales Distribution Workshop, dw@distribution
workshop.com Producers Tsui Hark, Nansun Shi, Jeffrey Chan Executive producers Yu Dong, Jeffrey Chan Cinematography Choi Sung-fai Action director Yuen Bun Production designer Yee Chung-man Editor Yau Chi-wai Music Wu Wai-lap Main cast Jet Li, Zhou Xun, Chen Kun, Kwai Lun-mei, Li Yuchun, Mavis Fan, Louis Fan
REVIEWED BY EDMUND LEE
Action auteur Tsui Hark revisits the Dragon Gate folklore with a visually inventive yet dramatically lacking IMAX 3D produc- tion. Also credited for the new movie’s screenplay and ‘original story’, the director has indeed reshuffled the plot elements of both King Hu’s wuxia classic Dragon Gate Inn (1967) and the Raymond Lee-directed remake, New Dragon Gate Inn (1992), which was produced and co-scripted by Tsui. Tsui’s follow-up to his excellent supernatural detective
actioner Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame (2010) certainly lives up to its English title: audiences will find flying swords (and daggers, arrows and chains) hurtling at them during martial-arts battles of the most gravity-defying kind. Despite its impressive action and nice comedic touch
throughout, Flying Swords has, however, arguably the weakest story of the three Dragon Gate films. Following a similar narrative trajectory to its two predeces-
sors, the Ming Dynasty-set movie tells of the eunuch-headed West Bureau’s murderous pursuit of their vulnerable target (in this case, a pregnant palace maid on the run, played by Mavis Fan), which leads to ultimate showdowns among heroic swordsmen (Jet Li, and Zhou Xun in male drag), imperial assas- sins (Chen Kun in a double role, and Louis Fan) and mercenary treasure hunters (Kwai Lun-mei and Li Yuchun) at the desert resort of Dragon Gate Inn. Spicy story threads from the two previous films, such as the
implied cannibalistic practice of the inn, are flirted with but not engaged in any depth. The obsession of Xun’s character with a certain flute — a love token, as it unsurprisingly turns out — provides a direct reference to Brigitte Lin’s character in the 1992 film, though the romantic subplot here is utterly undermined by the negligible romantic chemistry between Li and Xun as would-be lovers (or former lovers, which is never made clear). As an epic sword fight between Li and Chen’s fighting experts
(inside a gigantic twister!) uncharacteristically fizzles out, the movie’s last reel turns into a treasure hunt at a buried palace, which only comes into daylight following a vicious sandstorm that arrives once every 60 years. It is with such slapdash plot- ting that the director’s preference for intermittent cheers and thrills over consistently developed storylines becomes palpable. The movie’s brief coda — in which two of the treasure hunters
disguise their way into a royal palace, eventually poisoning the imperial concubine who has previously ordered the assassina- tion of the pregnant maid — is seemingly tagged on for laughs, and feels utterly incongruous with the tone of Hu’s original. By putting on the prestigious front of the wuxia tradition, Tsui, like his mischievous characters, may merely be play-acting his way towards more outrageous fun. Flying Swords is pure entertain- ment and little more — which may be enough for many.
n 20 Screen International at the Berlinale February 10, 2012
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