Shadows (2007)

Wonderful character development!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Milcho Manchevski is one of my favorite directors. First I watched "Before the Rain" which literally blew me up. I don't know how people from the rest of the world feels like after watching the movie, but I can ensure you that my Balcan blood boiled after The rain. Remarkable story, actors, music. Then came "Dust". I don't feel like comparing those two movies, but Dust was maybe even better. The scene where Corto Maltese is among Turkish soldiers made me laugh as hell! What a crazy idea! So near the Balkan absurd.But "Senki"? I really don't know what to think after watching it. Maybe I should've written this review sooner, its been a few days now since I saw it. I must say I was surprised seeing that Milcho had made a horror movie. OK, I thought, he sure got talent to deal with that genre... I cant say I'm disappointed, because Before the rain and Dust are just two so perfect movies I could watch them over and over and It'll always be as good as the first time, but I'm not sure thats the case with Shadows. The story indeed is good, and I just love the way Eros and Tanatos dance hand in hand through the movie, but I cant stop thinking this film could've really been good. But it isn't. Somethings missing. The main actor irritated me the most, in the role of Lazar, wasn't at times convincing enough, his expression in some scenes just fits better Spanish soap operas, also his relation to his mother. And what is that stupid scene with the bones in a box at his mothers office and her comment on it? It has some issues that are mind disturbing and food for thought, but generally it looks like a school project of some young wannabe film maker, rather than a movie from the big Manchevski we are used to. It seems kind of to amateurish. Also the choise of music was quite good but the songs were placed in the wrong time. Especially the scene where the main character is making love with a ghost, in the background you hear something like traditional Macedonian/Balcan music...what a disappointment!

I think that there are problems with the plot regarding the disconnected sex scenes, and the generally missed point in the movie. It could have been made better. I don't think it is a replica of the "Sixth Sense", I see no resemblance in the plot between these two movies. Also, as far as the Aegean Macedonians are concerned, I think the the movie does not mention the exodus of the 1913 and the use of the napalm bombs at that time. It just scarcely mentions the events following the partition of Macedonia. It mentions the exodus during the WW II, and especially during the Greek civil war following the WW II, when indeed there was an exodus of the Aegean Macedonians and the Greek forces and its allies did use napalm bombs to destroy forces of the Communist led coalition, but instead mostly civilians and villages were hit by those bombs. Those who survived were exiled into Eastern Europe and today's Republic of Macedonia (then part of federal Yugoslavia). So those are the facts briefly mentioned. So the movie does not say at all that this exodus happened in 1913, but after 1913 when part of Macedonia was seized by Greece. In any way, most viewers will not focus on that part of the story as those events are just scarcely treated, and implied. They are secondary to the main story. I think it is absolutely unfair and wrong to see that as propaganda.

I recently saw this at the 2008 Palm Springs International Film Festival. This was Macedonia's official entry as Best Foreign Language Film to the Academy Awards. First of all, I had to refresh myself geographically to find out exactly where Macedonia is, which is a landlocked Balkan nation that was once part of the Yugoslav Republic and is surrounded by Serbia, Bugaria, Greece and Albania. Set in the nation's capital of Skopje with location shooting in Ohrid this is a beautiful country and a beautiful film. Director/writer Milcho Manchevski, noted for his first two critically acclaimed films and now residing in New York returns to Macedonia to film Shadows, a story about a young doctor, Lazar Perkov (Borce Nacev), who is involved in a life threatening car accident. After a year of rehabilitation and his marriage to Ignjat (Dime Llije) dissolving and living a professional life in the shadow of his successful and dominant mother, Dr. Vera Perkov (Sabina Ajrula), Lazar is visited by a mysterious old woman with a message for him in an old forgotten dialect that he can not decipher. He seeks translation to the message at a university where he meets Menka (Vesna Stanojevska) who is not who she seems. Menka, the old woman and a man with a baby are all from the old village where Lazar's mother was born and are seeking his help to right a wrong carelessly committed by his mother. Nacev and Ajrula are excellent in their roles but the big surprise of the cast is the acting debut of Stanojevska, an exotic beauty in an erotic role who in her day job away from acting is the Harpist with the Macedonian National Opera and Ballet Orchestra. What a great find by Manchevski as Stanojevska lights up the screen and is sure to have an international acting career if she so chooses. Veteran Italian cinematographer Fabio Chianchetti beautifully and masterly photographs. Kiril Spaseski as art director and David Munns as production designer give this film a great look blending the modern with the old. A great music score from Ryan Shore who was at the film's screening for Q&A. Some Tom Waitts music is also featured in the film. This is a fine film and one of my favorites of the 38 films I saw this year at the festival and I would give it a 9.0 out of 10.

The film is just like any other predictable suspense movie, I really did expect something else when I read the synopsis. It doesn't explore the main character dilemmas with his wife, we do not get to understand their relationship very well. His relationship with his mother is shown in a very stereotyped manner, she's a controlling woman that castrates her son, influencing even his career choice, just like a character who came from one of Freud's book. Besides, there's this whole story of what an hypocrite she is, always showing people the good example, but being actually a thief of bones (!!!!) who had no scruples, profaning the dead in their holy sleep.