Love and Other Crimes (2008)

Lack of good storyline.

Absolutely Fantastic

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

I saw Stefan Arsenijevic short movies,and I really liked them all,he seemed like a extraordinary talented director,and I couldn't wait to see his new movie -Love and other crimes-. Bur right from beginning,I was feeling embarrassed cause I'm sitting and watching that on a big screen. These are the reasons:-Screenplay is really lame,situations that are happening are not understandable(especially that thing with song-b e s a m e m u c h o--disaster).And biggest mistake is -screenplay looks like it should point to some real problems in Belgrade,and it's completely untrue.I mean,it looks like it refers to reality and it's not.Loan sharks and crimes like that in 2008?! It's like when Americans make movie about war in Bosnia... Characters are insufficiently elaborated ,their relationships are pathetic and shallow,and not logical.Like he was shooting without a script,and solved problems by adding characters and dialogs just like that. I cannot say anything about actors,they are all good,Stefan also made a lot of good camera cadres of New Belgrade and also cadres are generally beautiful,but whole movie is not good,I really ask myself-WHAT happened to Serbian movie,we had really good screenplays in our past,why are intelligent people like Stefan exploiting these subjects in so shallow and stupid way?I would not go to see his next movie

As someone else (reviewer) stated here too, after "Klopka" comes this gem of Serbian cinema. A slow moving love drama, that's not really trying to blend in.While you might think or expect conventional love drama fare, you will be treated to somewhat more complex (dare I say even more philosophical)! As stated in the summary line it won't be to anyone's taste, especially if you're more in the blockbuster area, then this won't be your cup of tea. Well I liked it and you will too, if you let yourself into the characters and don't mind one song (Besame...) being repeated a few times in the movie ...

I liked this movie, which I saw at the Berlinale 2008. It even grows after a while - which is a great thing for any work of art (and love) Surely there must have gone a lot of love into making this movie - otherwise its not explainable why this portrait of a grim and Grey Serbian skyscraper quarter is so strong, believable and sometimes even beautiful in a strange way. Here in German Cinema there are a lot of examples of films with a social theme , portraying a dark reality but a lot of times they don't quite succeed -neither in the portrayal of society nor in cinematic terms. This film, coming from a small country like Serbia - which was still a war zone around 10 years ago - is a fresh example how to do it with success.

You may have seen my raves over Klopka from last year's Berlinale, but this year's offering was Love and Other Crimes (Ljubav i Drugi Zlocini in the original Serbian). I got excited the moment the film started rolling and I saw it starred Klopka's haunting Anica Dobra. At the end I stood up and asked, "What on earth is happening in Serbian film and how can we see MORE?" As an American, I can't help viewing the societal collapses endemic to Eastern Europe as the stimulus behind this post-modern film noir. But the director surprised me by answering my query in this vein with a note of optimism. Sure, of course, the end of open warfare is a definite positive, but to then see your society descend into the grips of common criminals in the inexorable name of capitalism, can hardly be optimistic!? I left the theater with the feeling that this particular young director had somehow surpassed himself, overreached his inherent ability. How wonderful when this is in service to art, and with the endlessly expressive face of Dobra, it is not hard to imagine this happening. Then, in further researching the film, I see a common thread -- Srdjan Koljevic, the co-writer -- and ask myself if perhaps he is the one to watch?