FILMBRATS - REVIEWS

Fikret is a typically disillusioned teenager living in Sarajevo. His neighborhood consists of war-torn down buildings, crooked cops and pathetic old men telling tale tales of sexual encounters to the schoolyard youth. It’s no wonder his main escape is glue-sniffing. Suddenly, things take a turn for the worse, as his father dies leaving behind a massive debt to a stranger. In order to renew the honor of his family, Fikret must find a way to come up with the money. He decides to work with the cops in a staged kidnapping by taking in the victim and holding her until the time comes. Nothing could go wrong here, right?

This film grabs you instantly. The first shot brings us face to face with this dopey looking wannabe rapper. Who else would wear a Wu-Tang lanyard? Right away, you know his character and know that it’s impossible to take him seriously. The great cinematography (by Slobodan Trninic) continues throughout. He works with writer/director Srdjan Vuletic to show the despair of the city without making it seem to incredibly dark and dingy or, more importantly, unlivable. What’s left is a run-down landscape that has this underlying poetic beauty that’s invisible to its residents, embodied by this quote by Fikret describing the jet that flies after sundown, “The plane shines when we are in darkness, because it’s filled with happy people.”

The movie doesn’t just look nice; it’s also interesting and funny. Fikret’s friends work well as humorous supporting characters, which don’t need much depth to make it through the picture. The kidnapped girl is the most intriguing person in the movie. To start, she seems like she’s just out to take advantage of the dumb people holding her hostage, but as the film progresses, her motivations are virtually unknown. You have to watch her like a hawk to attempt to get an accurate read. Fikret isn’t just a dumb kid either. He has this untapped depth that he shows glimpses of on the rooftops looking at the jets and while in the abandoned zoo. He’s not just any other disillusioned teen; he has reasoning and proof to back it all up.

It’s a great, tragic story of a city and a person both struggling to find themselves. It has plenty of laughs, a lot of heart and some interesting, yet possibly predictable twists and turns. The music is good and appropriate, but the cues are too abrupt sometimes. The movie has a little bit of everything, from comedy to romance to action to drama to suspense and it’s all balanced well. “Summer in the Golden Valley” is a diamond in the rough.

respond to jon@filmbrats.com