David O'ConnellLove
June 2nd 2009 03:26
A hitman whose identity has been confused by the overlapping cultural borders of his troubled homeland makes his way to New York in search of an old flame. Vladan Nikolic’s 2005 film, utilizing a flavoursome international cast, is an understated but worthy achievement from the director considering the modest budget of $350,000 at his disposal.
Vanya Nevakovich (Sergej Trifunovic) is a wanted man with a past littered with the bodies of those he’s taken down. Born near Sarajevo, he’s spent his life believing only in a rapidly diminishing Yugoslavia, raised in their military unit as a surrogate family member. The one woman he loved, Anna (Geno Lechner), has fled to the States where she works as a doctor. She has a new boyfriend now, Dirk Molloy (Peter Gevisser), a detective with a writer's soul who knows little of her true past, but soon will.
Nikolic’s distillation of New York downsizes one of the world's most expansive cities to the sparsely populated blank alleyways and industrial wastelands of Queens, far from any neon, glitz or towering skyscrapers. His film mostly plays out over two days in a perilous convergence of past and present with danger, in various forms, pressing close from all sides. Vanya is driven by his love for the woman who abandoned him, whilst Molloy and a renegade government agent, Hayes (Eric Frandsen), are also on his tail for very different reasons.
Two major showdowns are separated into non-linear strands, recalling moments from various perspectives to heighten suspense though it never really works to the extent Nikolic hopes for and becomes an annoyance if anything. The limited budget means the film constantly reflects the necessity for a pared-down, grungy aesthetic, occasionally offset by creative camera angles that skewer perspective. Many scenes betray the use of penetrating digital lenses that get up close and personal, although Nikolic curiously treats the extreme violence with stylistic kid gloves rather than brutal, graphic force.
Intermittent narration from Molloy is provided to give a novelistic overview of the various characters, fleshing out their backgrounds with profiles that humanise them whilst providing context. Typical of crime dramas there are twists aplenty as the climax approaches, alliances formed and severed unexpectedly.
The actors are uniformly decent without elevating the film to any startling heights. Trifunovic’s brooding intensity reflects the tortured soul of a man described as feeling “invisible” in the way his identity has been eroded by the upheaval of his homeland; Lechner leaves a favourable impression too as the woman torn from her new life by a ghost she deludedly believed exorcised long ago, whilst Gevisser’s earnest cop provides the film with its rational core and lone voice of objectivity.
The bleak affirmation of ghosts that can never be allayed gives the final scenes a strong sense of history's hold over these people, the conflicting emotional needs of Vanya and Anna as unresolved as their wavering identities. Love is not a great film by any means, but despite a limited appeal it has genuine moments of hard-earned poignancy and enough distinguishing marks to deem it worth your while.
Vanya Nevakovich (Sergej Trifunovic) is a wanted man with a past littered with the bodies of those he’s taken down. Born near Sarajevo, he’s spent his life believing only in a rapidly diminishing Yugoslavia, raised in their military unit as a surrogate family member. The one woman he loved, Anna (Geno Lechner), has fled to the States where she works as a doctor. She has a new boyfriend now, Dirk Molloy (Peter Gevisser), a detective with a writer's soul who knows little of her true past, but soon will.
Nikolic’s distillation of New York downsizes one of the world's most expansive cities to the sparsely populated blank alleyways and industrial wastelands of Queens, far from any neon, glitz or towering skyscrapers. His film mostly plays out over two days in a perilous convergence of past and present with danger, in various forms, pressing close from all sides. Vanya is driven by his love for the woman who abandoned him, whilst Molloy and a renegade government agent, Hayes (Eric Frandsen), are also on his tail for very different reasons.
Two major showdowns are separated into non-linear strands, recalling moments from various perspectives to heighten suspense though it never really works to the extent Nikolic hopes for and becomes an annoyance if anything. The limited budget means the film constantly reflects the necessity for a pared-down, grungy aesthetic, occasionally offset by creative camera angles that skewer perspective. Many scenes betray the use of penetrating digital lenses that get up close and personal, although Nikolic curiously treats the extreme violence with stylistic kid gloves rather than brutal, graphic force.
Intermittent narration from Molloy is provided to give a novelistic overview of the various characters, fleshing out their backgrounds with profiles that humanise them whilst providing context. Typical of crime dramas there are twists aplenty as the climax approaches, alliances formed and severed unexpectedly.
Vanya Nevakovich (Sergej Trifunovic)
The actors are uniformly decent without elevating the film to any startling heights. Trifunovic’s brooding intensity reflects the tortured soul of a man described as feeling “invisible” in the way his identity has been eroded by the upheaval of his homeland; Lechner leaves a favourable impression too as the woman torn from her new life by a ghost she deludedly believed exorcised long ago, whilst Gevisser’s earnest cop provides the film with its rational core and lone voice of objectivity.
The bleak affirmation of ghosts that can never be allayed gives the final scenes a strong sense of history's hold over these people, the conflicting emotional needs of Vanya and Anna as unresolved as their wavering identities. Love is not a great film by any means, but despite a limited appeal it has genuine moments of hard-earned poignancy and enough distinguishing marks to deem it worth your while.
| 80 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Sergej Trifunovic is an actor who I've heard a lot about but never seen any of his films - he comes highly recommended and I read one chap predicting him to be the next big overseas actor to land it big in Hollywood.
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic