Frozen Stiff

MRTAV ` LADAN is the directing debut of Milorad Milinkovic Debeli, famous music clip and theatre director who is very well known for his New Wave antics in Serbian rock`n`roll. This time round he finally debuts on the big screen in Serbian adaptation of Hitchcock`s TROBLE WITH HARRY and the WEEKEND AT BERNIE`S franchise. Debeli is talented and old enough to keep overwhelming actors at bay even though most of the laughs are sniffed out of curses. And foul mouth isn`t a reliable source of humor. Plotting is also a wee bit convulted since there are too many obstacles for main characters and not too many ways to solve these situations. This is why audience is forced to wait for the miscellaneous hijinks for the plot to move forward. Relying on luck makes characters look passive. Some situations are poorly staged but who are we to whine when MRTAV `LADAN is one of the rare Serbian movies shot on film stock, even though it`s 16mm. As it is, it is mildly enjoyable. One of the finest films in the season when we had only 3 barely watchable Serbian films. Yeah, right.