20 best Slovenian movies ever filmed
Slovenian cinematography is relative new one, for the first film (not counted that semi documentary films made before WWII) was filmed in 1948, so it will be just 60 years or so of Slovene movie era. Nevertheless here is some of the best achievements in our film industry.
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- DirectorJoze GaleStarsMatija BarlFrane MilcinskiFranc PresetnikIn an alpine valley lies an idyllic village. High up in the mountains, facing each others across live two men: a "good grandpa" and an "evil man". The first is herbe picker Kosobirin, the other Bedanec is a poacher. The latter has a girl servant Mojca who, one day, meeting Kosobrin, tells him of her difficult life. Although in great fear of Bedanc's revenge, the old man takes her with him. Unfortunatley, he does get caught by Bedanc, who ties him on tree. Kosobrin is freed by Kekec, young cheerful and brave boy. Bedanc catches him too but promises to let him go if he helps him find the "wretched girl" Mojca. Kekec refuses the deal. Kekec's father and a herdsman, looking for Kekec in mountains, find his bag and presume that he has been bushed down by an eagle. Bedanc grabs Kosobrin anew. Costumed by fear, Kosobrin loses consciounsess, while Bedanc runs away because he belives he has killed the man. Kekec appears and hauls the unconscious man across the rock wall. Bedanc is sneaking around, waiting to find the secret shaft leading to Kosobrin's cottage. Eventually he finds the shaft and begins to pull himself through... But there in the dark Kekec sets an owl on him, wich scares Bedanec terribly. He rushes out of the shaft, slips down and hangs in the air, over the abyss. When he gives a promise that he will never come back again, Kekec saves him. Indeed Bedanec sets his cottage on fire and leaves the country. Kekec returns to his village, where he is greeted cherfully by all the people.Yes, it is old, yes it is B/W, yes it is made basicly for kids, but even after 60 years it rocks.
- DirectorFrance StiglicStarsLojze PotokarFranc PresetnikMileva ZakrajsekSet in a small Slovenian village , it tells the story of its residents who lived under German occupation after the Italian defeat in 1943. While helping the partisans, the residents look forward to the upcoming liberation.You never forget the first one!
- DirectorFrantisek CápStarsMetka GabrijelcicStane SeverElvira KraljA young girl Vesna goes on a skiing vacation to Slovenian Alps, where she is being looked after by her aunt. Her family gets worried when they meet Vesna's boyfriend, and try to marry the couple thinking that she may be pregnant with him.One of those rare sequels which is, just by my opinion, better than the pilot.
- DirectorFrantisek CápStarsMetka GabrijelcicFranek TrefaltJure FurlanThree students try to pass their final exam by reluctant task of wooing their professor's daughter, but the unlucky winner, decided by a coin toss, will completely forget about studying once he meet her.The pilot of the one mentioned above.
- DirectorJoze BevcStarsBert SotlarDare ValicMajda PotokarIn Ljubljana lives a bus driver Stebe. He's a widower. He lives with five sons and a maid Rozi. The boys are very naughty and keep annoying Rozi and, in fact all neighbourhood. One day Rozi in desperation declares that she is leaving them, because she cant stand it no more. And she does leave, although she is fond of the boys. Soon afterwards Rozi's niece Meri comes by, asking if she might stay because she wants to find herself a job in town. Meri is good girl but cannot cope with the kitchen work as successfully as her aunt. But the whole Steb family seems to be charmed by her. Even one of Stebe's own colleagues, Tone, begins to take interest in the girl. Meri likes him too. Stebe's boys feel quite disappointed because of it. But all's well that ends well: in full conspiracy Meri qualifies as bus driver while Rozi returns to the Stebe family.Even the Slovene people can laugh ;-)
- DirectorAndrej KosakStarsDavor JanjicZijah SokolovicNina IvanicYugoslavia before Tito's death. A young guy born to a mixed marriage (Slovenian - Bosnian) trying to find himself and fit in society, falls in love with Slovenian woman.Yes, 20 years passed, just to see one more film worth of watching (there were 20 years of nothing before).
- DirectorMarko NabersnikStarsVlado NovákPrimoz BezjakPia ZemljicAfter being fired, young car mechanic Djuro gets recommendation to look for another job in a remote village. His new boss is warm, old-fashioned, and naive--completely opposite from the world he's coming from. The peaceful atmosphere is shaken when Djuro falls for a regular customer's wife.This film reminds me a little bit of famous ex-Yugoslav film maker Emir Kusturica. Just brings you back to those passed times...
- DirectorJane KavcicStarsMatjaz GrudenMatija TavcarNino de GleriaThis film takes place in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Matic lives in a large neighbourhood of concrete blocks of flats with his mother. As his father is temporarily working in Libya, they live alone. Matics' otherwise monotonous life changes dramatically when he is chosen to feature in a film. At the shooting he meets Milena, a girl his own age whom he begins to like. When the shooting is over, the film company gives him a present, a huge black Newfoundlander. Although his mother is not really pleased about it, Matic brings the dog home. And that is just the beginning of their adventures...One more kids movie. Perhaps we are the best at this genre.
- DirectorFrance StiglicStarsLojze RozmanBert SotlarMajda PotokarTwo partisan coalminers need to take three orphan children away from dangerous area to the liberated land.Not just for youngs, but the main star is 4 yrs old boy who has stolen the entire scene.
- DirectorBostjan HladnikStarsVida JermanIgor GaloMiha BalohA married woman becomes romantically involved with a basketball player, and decides to get him just for herself.Porn? Maybe. Art? Oh, well...If you ask me: a new try in Slovene opus, deserved to be mentioned on my list.
- DirectorFrance StiglicStarsJohn KitzmillerEvelyne WohlfeilerTugo StiglicDuring WWII in Slovenia, two orphaned children seeking the imaginary Valley of Peace run into a downed black American pilot who tries to protect them from the Germans until the Yugoslav Partisans can arrive.At last, but not least... One more war-kids-partisans movie. Stunning preformance by 4 yrs Lottie (Evelyne Wohlfeiler), well Kitzmiller was also good. So place 11 for them.
- DirectorJan CvitkovicStarsPeter MusevskiSonja SavicTadej TrohaBecause of a doctor's strike, Ivan is released a day early from an alcoholic treatment program. He returns to his wife Sonja and his 16-year-old son Robi. His first afternoon at home is pleasant. The next morning, Sonja sends him to a shop to get bread and milk. On the way back Ivan runs into Armando, his high-school classmate, and through their conversation at a bar, Ivan finds out that long before Sonja became his wife, Armando spent a night with her. Ivan has his first drop of the hard stuff...Kruh in mleko is a bitter-sweet tale of loneliness, estrangement, and the glowing embers of love that once was a fire.A wonderful example how it is possible to make movie with extremley low budget. Portrait of every day live in all of its misery and pain...
- DirectorBranko DjuricStarsTanja RibicDragan BjelogrlicTom BanA story about a couple from the bottom of the social ladder, about smuggling refugees across borders and other 'suspect' things- it is, first and foremost, an attempt to tell a story about the worst in people, wherever they may be coming from.It is watchable...
- DirectorJanez BurgerStarsJan CvitkovicNatasa BurgerJanez RusDizzy is a perennial student living in a small double room in a hostel. He never seems to study, but spends his time sleeping, watching TV, and drinking. Marko, a studious freshman from the country, is assigned to the other bed in the room, and he is soon joined by his young, very pregnant, girlfriend Ana. Meanwhile, Dizzy's girlfriend Marina is trying to get Dizzy to make a commitment, but he would prefer to continue his idle ways.See No. 12 just above.
- DirectorBostjan HladnikStarsDusa PockajMiha BalohRado NakrstPeter is the dark brooding type. Leading a vacuous, shapeless life, he longs for the ideal woman, while at the same time, half heartedly continuing with his habitual girlfriend, Marusa , who is considerably older, a fact that Peter is quick to point out. As an ageing actress, struggling for parts in her local theatre, she oozes insecurity and breathes uncertainty. Together, they spend their time in the local restaurant, smoking, drinking and trading verbal blows. "I bet you'll just end up a drunk," she tells Peter each time. Peter just grins and tells her how old she looks. Compounded by a thankless director who soon shows her the door, Marusa finds her identity being squeezed harder and harder against the wall. To escape, Peter and Marusa dream...Well, I found this movie rather boring, but everybody (experts? and film critics) says it's the top of the tops. Sorry, not for me and it would never managed into my list if our great Dusa Pockaj wouldn't give her best, creating a magnificent role not ever to be forgotten.
- DirectorAndrej KosakStarsJernej SugmanKsenija MisicUros PotocnikIn Yugoslavia's Livada prison in 1970, inmates led by Keber convince reluctant authorities to let them watch the televised Olympic final basketball game between the home country and the U.S., but taunting guards interrupt the viewing and prod the prisoners to the point of a riot. After a period of a kind of blissful anarchy where the inmates taste freedom, Keber enlists the house "intellectual" Mrak to devise a system of prisoner self-government aimed at forcing reforms on the state.Tanks God that some of directors have a bit of common sense. I have the feeling that all of them (Slovene directors, that is) want to present some kind of "art" in their works. But why not just simple story, with some action, with some humour, just to spend 2 hours comfortable and have some fun. Good!
- DirectorAles VerbicStarsTanja DimitrievskaDamjana GrasicUrska HlebecA group of nine friends go to the mountains of Triglav in seek of Morana, goddess of death. And end up being killed one by one.Hahahaha! This is a joke. Just to present you a movie, I called an "art" film. A wannabe thriller, a wannabe art film with deep thoughts, spiced with some love (?). A wannabe film... I remember that I watched it in the old Union movie-theatre (closed now for the film projections). Well, there were 4 (with word: four) of us in the theatre, and the couple in front of me went out in some 20 minutes, so just two of us remained and were tortured by this film for another hour or so.
So make it place 170 instead of 17 ;-), or maybe 17th place, counting backward.
PS
The second man in the hall remaining was film operator, just for the record. - DirectorMatjaz KlopcicStarsMilena ZupancicPolde BibicBert SotlarDoctor Janez, a somewhat elderly lawyer, tired of urban life, pays a few week's visit to his relative Presecnik, a well-off farmer living in highland village. Farm life holds a great attraction for him, particularly because a deep and secret love develops between himself and Presecnik's daughter Meta. After a few serene and cheerful days spent on the farm, filled with pleasant labor and walks together with Meta in the unspoilt surroundings, he has to return to Ljubljana to resume his office work. But he cannot forget Meta and he makes his mind to buy a property not far from the Presecnik home and and to become a farmer. He does indeed buy a farm and sets out again to the Presecnik home to ask Meta to be his wife.Slovene classic authors are great. Why there are not more scripts done based on their novels. We could film some historic epos (like Poles did with Sienkeiwitzc), we could film some war films (like ex-Yugo partisan films), we could even film some love films (on this point I must mention the other movie based on the novel of Ivan Tavcar - "Ljubezen nam je vsem v pogubo") or even so called "art" films (as long as they are not "Idealist", "S poti" or such a crap).
But, no. Our authors with their opus simply don't exist. So "Blossoms in Autumn" is one shiny exception an therefore my No. 18. - DirectorMatjaz KlopcicStarsPolde BibicMilena ZupancicIvo BanYear 1945. The second World War is over and the soldiers from the sisbanded army are returning home. Yet there is still no sign of Joze Malek. His wife Mimika and their children Tincek and olga know only that he had deserted the German army and gone over to the Soviet Red Army. Mimika works a a hired hand for the farmer, Medved, who givesher bread and milk for her child instead of regular wages. This is not at all to the liking of her relative Vanc. One fine day, father Malek comes home and the family is happilly reunited. Vanc tells Jozeabout the agrarian reform, through which the Maleks even get their own plot of land. In exchange of this, they have to remove all the religious symbols from their home. They stop going to the church, and must shout Tito's and Stalin's praises every day. Joze Malek changes completely. He tills his plot of kand as though obsessed, becomes greedy and begins to emulate the big landowners, calling himself a socialist kulak. Yet suddenly, the fact that Malek was a solider in Red Army is no longer acceptedable. He is suspected of being a collaborator with the Soviet Informbureau. Joze manages to clear his name at the hearing by acting stupid, but he shifts the blame to his relative Vanc, saying that he was only doing what he hadtold him to, and Vanc is arrested. Malek's land rights are taken away from him, as agricultural co-operatives will be established.Why there should be just and only war films about our heroic fight during WWII against Hitler and Mussolini? No, one should see also the after war life, all mistakes of the "new government", who won that war. This film points to us, with a fist full of humour, how our grandfathers lived in those victorious days...
- DirectorJoze GaleStarsRusa BojcBlanka FlorjancVelimir GjurinTwo boys, Kekec and Rozle, come to serve a farmer, with a blind daughter Mojca, as shepherds. As the night falls, the two boys start talking about a woman who lives in the mountains and is supposed to steal children. Her name is Pehta. In the morning, Kekec, Rozle and Mojca go to an Alpine cottage and Kekec promises Mojca that he will find her a remedy for her eyes. As the girl is picking flowers, Pehta arrives and takes Mojca into her cottage. She wants to keep Mojca because of her singing. Pehta is a woman herbalist and she finds a rare flower in the mountain, from which she makes a remedy for Mojca's eyes. Kekec and Rozle start looking for Mojca and they find Pehta's cottage. Rozle is so frightened that he runs away, but brave Kekec climbs trough the thatched roof of Pehta's cottage and runs away with Mojca. Pehta sends her dog - Volk (Wolf) to hunt them down, but they manage to escape it. The timid Rozle tells at home that Pehta's dog probably ate Kekec and Mojca. Mojca's father and villagers start looking for them. Pehta's sees them coming, burns her cottage down and hides. Meanwhile, Kekec brings Mojca home and as she is telling her mother that Pehta has a cure for her blindness, Kekec runs out of the house and lets himself be caught by Pehta. She takes him into her cave and tells him that she would have cured Mojca if he didn't took her away. She keeps Kekec as a servant and tells Volk to watch him as she leaves to collect flowers. Kekec makes friends with Volk and starts searching the cave for the remedy. Pehta catches him in the act, beats her dog for not obeying her and shows to Kekec that she's carrying the bottle with the remedy around her neck. The villagers are looking for Kekec, Pehta hears them and Kekec tries to get the bottle, but she throws it in the abyss in anger. Kekec escapes from the cave and finds the bottle undamaged. Pehta sets her dog on him but Volk starts barking on her. Kekec returns to the cave, shows the bottle to Pehta and she tells him, how to use the remedy - just three drops in each eye. Kekec returns home with Volk, find Mojca sleeping and pours the remedy in her eyes. She wakes up and finds out that she can see. Kekec leaves the farm with his dog.We started with Kekec, let me finish with it. Far from masterpiece (like the first one), yet a lot better than 3rd sequel which was total *beep*
So let me finish with words: "Srecno, Kekec!"