The Priest's Children (2013)

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I really enjoyed watching this film. The film will be screened in Baku, Azerbaijan in November, within the framework of the traditional European Film Festival being held every year. This drama-comedy film is awesome in its storyline, actors professionalism, and the topic. I really recommend watching this film to everyone. I am sure the audience in Baku will also love it :)Good luck Vinko Bresan!

A story that set in a small Croatian island. It is a comedy, but also a serious issue that the country is facing right now. So thanks to the filmmakers to foray this matter into a nice comical style movie. Yes, the presentation was unique, displayed everything in a sophisticated manner. It was based on a stage play and was in controversy for the portrayal of serious issue in such a shade and characters.The story commences with a young priest Don Fabijan who tell his tale to another priest. So the flashback begins where he was working in an island church. In that small town, the death rates are rising at an alarming rate, but birth rates are completely nil. Then he decides to make the balanced ratio with the help of a couple of other trustees. What follows is the confusions among people over the sudden changes in life order of the community.I got very interested when I heard about the movie for the first time. The title itself was tempting, after reading its synopsis I became desperate to see it. So kept my expectations as much possible low. In another angle I was hoping it not to be alike 'Nacho Libre' with a slightly altered character of Jack Black. Thank god it was a different than others of the similar kind.Recently I explored into some of the Croatian and its neighbouring region movies and I am happy for those including this fine comedy. I give you a green flag signal to go for it, but you should not expect anything extraordinary from this simple comedy.

I love director Vinko Brešan - guy shows clear, true love for movies and his enthusiasm is contagious. There is a recognizable style in his movies (set in a small, isolated coastal places, with grotesque characters that are actually more realistic than you would think), quirky humor and visually they are beautiful to watch (with a loving nod towards charming French "Amélie" cartoon look). No wonder his earlier movies (" Kako je počeo rat na mom otoku" and "Maršal" got wide audience and this time with newest "Svećenikova djeca" he actually perfected this approach and made his best movie so far. It is a cute little satire about condom piercing Catholic priest who secretly join forces with newsagent and pharmacist in effort to raise dwindling island population with some hilarious, unexpected results. Characters are sweetly weird as they should be and Brešan effortlessly makes them immensely likable - if some typical local humor seems too simple for international audience (as some critics pointed, mainly nitpicking Croatians) just think about all those wonderful Czech or Spanish comedies ("La Belle Epoque") whose charm was recognized in spite - and because - this factor. For once, Croatian audience actually invaded cinemas and it was huge commercial success (even showed on international Film festivals) with predictable damnation from Church side that apparently nobody took seriously because movie became highest grossing Croatian movie ever. Bravo Vinko Brešan.

Croatian cinema isn't well known in Europe, mainly because of the war that took place here in the nineties and practically put a stop to any serious film productions. But it isn't just Europe that ignored Croatian films. Home audiences also got used to skipping them. It took a lot of time to change that and in the new millennium things started to slowly get better. It still awaits wider recognition but the productions get more numerous every year and the films get more and more diverse. Positive reviews and awards won at international festivals also encouraged people to go to the cinema and see a domestic production. Riding on that wave a new film by well known Croatian director Vinko Brešan called "Svećenikova djeca" ("The Priest's Children") came to the Croatian film theatres and made the biggest opening ever for a domestic film."Svećenikova djeca" tells the story of a young priest named Fabijan who came to work on a small Croatian island. It takes only a short time for him to notice how the population is rapidly decreasing, but after a seller from the only kiosk on the island confesses to him how he "kills people" by selling condoms to everyone, Fabijan gets a great idea. He teams up with the seller (later the pharmacist joins them too) and they start piercing condoms, thus bringing the possibility of pregnancy back in God's hands.As you can imagine, that makes for a lot of hilarious situations. The problem is not all of them are that hilarious. Brešan can't seem to break off his mould, revisiting the same or similar setting and characters in each of his films, small island with a close-knit community where everyone represents some stereotype. The audience here is largely used to laugh at stereotypes but for a little more demanding film fan it's just not enough. The other main problem with not just Brešan's but almost all of the Croatian films is acting. For some reason most of Croatian actors can't (or won't?) make their characters feel natural. Their performances feeling staged and unconvincing for a film. It's probably because of their theatrical backgrounds but that's an explanation, not an excuse. To be fair, there are a couple of good performances in the film, especially that of Nikša Butijer as Petar, the seller, with a mixed one by Krešimir Mikić in the main role. There are two things that particularly got my attention, one very bad and one very good. The bad one is music by Mate Matišić (also a screenwriter). It's unimaginative and repetitious with main theme playing over and over again. The good one is cinematography by Mirko Pivčević. The shots are simply fantastic, giving a greater sense of characters and plot and providing beautiful scenes at the same time.Considering all of the above, it could be hard to understand what drove all those people in the cinema, but it's in fact very simple. Croatia is a country still greatly divided between secular and religious, in fact just right now there is a big debate on Health Education with fierce rhetoric from both sides. Considering the main good guy is a priest (and the main bad guy too as it unveils in the end) and the film looks at both the good and the bad face of the Church, it's destined to attract people from both sides of the conflict. But what makes the film interesting for home audiences doesn't necessarily make it so for the rest, especially when you consider that what is a flat out comedy right until the very end, makes a shift so abrupt that it just doesn't make sense (even with all the implications and message it's supposed to deliver) and ends as a great tragedy. "Svećenikova djeca" isn't a bad film, but it becomes obvious that it won't be Brešan who will put Croatian cinema in the focus of the film world.