Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Zagreb Cappuccino

Zagreb Cappucino; drama/ comedy, Croatia, 2014; D: Vanja Sviličić, S: Nela Koscis, Mila Elegović, Igor Kovač

Zagreb. After a divorce, Petra is now is her 40s and still single, just like her best friend Kika, who visits her from a German town. Kika stays at Petra's apartment and the two women chat about life with a cup of Cappuccino. They go to a night club and bring back two men for a one night stand. Kika reveals she is pregnant and that she wants to have an abortion. However, she changes her mind and decides to keep the baby.

The feature length directorial debut film by Vanja Svilicic - the wife of acclaimed director Ognjen Svilicic - is a light, yet unexciting and bland dramedy that rarely manages to engage the viewers. Even though is revolves around two blond women, best friends who quietly lament about their lives, the storyline is disappointingly flat and scarce with ideas. Almost nothing happens throughout the film, and even for a 'slice-of-life' movie, something has to happen, even if it just the build up of mood or emotions. "Zagreb Cappuccino" gains the most from the excellent performance of brilliant actress Mila Elegovic in the role of Kika, who manages to ignite the film here and there. In one of the best moments, Petra is sitting on a couch in her apartment, while Marina Perazić's fantastic song "Program tvog kompjutera" is heard in the background on the radio. Completely spontaneous, Kika stands up, pumps up the volume and starts singing and dancing in tune to the song to cheer up the mood, and for moment, the whole film is excellent. This excellence lasts only for two minutes, and loses steam as soon as the song is over, yet it still gave a small spark of energy and a hint that Vanja Svilicic can do better if she tries.

Grade;+

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