A warm romantic comedy with local Serbian flavor, “Loving Glances” marks the return of acclaimed Belgrade helmer Srdjan Karanovic to directing after a 12-year absence due to the war in former Yugoslavia and its aftermath. Film’s difficult production circumstances are invisible, however, in the mildly surreal inter-ethnic love story between two young refugees.
Determinedly optimistic, with an old-fashioned look and cheery music track, it’s a far cry from the edgy black comedies released in Serbia this summer. Coupled with the usual difficulty of exporting national humor, festivals are likely to be its main venue. In 1995 Belgrade, with the war still raging, people try to live normal lives, fall in love, get married. Among them are many refugees coming from all over the disintegrating country. Labud (Senad Alihodzic), a Serbian student from Sarajevo who is dodging the draft, is typical. Penniless and unemployed, separated from his mother, his dog and his girlfriend Vida (Jelena Dokic) — who has gone to Chicago — he turns to a marriage broker (Milena Dravic) to find love. The computer pairs him with pretty Romana (Ivana Bolanca.) Though she poses as a sophisticated Belgrader, he follows her home one night and discovers she’s a poor refugee like him, and of mixed Serbian-Muslim parentage to boot.
Serbian | DVDRip | MKV | 1014×550 | AVC @ 1595 kb/s | 1402.83 MB
Audio: AC-3 @ 384 kb/s | 6 channels | 01:37:08 minutes | Subs: English (embedded)
Genre: Drama, Romance