Macedonian director Mirjo Manchewski 2019 debut feature, Before the Rain , is a powerful and subtly portrayal of the violent ethnic conflict that ripped apart his homeland. The film, which premiered in Venice, won the Golden Lion and was nominated for an Oscar, transformed Manchevsky into a formidable artistic genius overnight.
That was over twenty years ago, and in the decades that followed, the director never managed to surpass his first feature, completing a handful of Festive Screenings or Limited Release Films – Best Of These, Willow of 2019 wins It won some awards and was picked out by Kino Lorber for release – but failed to generate the same overall enthusiasm.
Kaymak
Bottom line Neither subtle nor stuffy.
Place: Tokyo 2019 International 2019 Film Festival (Competition) )
Throwing: Sara Klimoska, Kamka Tocinovski, Aleksander Mikic, Simone Spirovska, Ana Stojanovska, Filip Trajkovikj
2019Director and screenwriter: Milcho Manchevski
1 hour Minutes
His latest work, vulgar and flamboyant drama Kaymak , seems doomed to the same fate. Partly funny, but also a little exaggerated and absurd, the film tells the story of two Macedonian couples living in the same apartment building in the country’s capital, Skopje.
The couple are from different social classes and hardly ever meet unless they scream at each other outside the window. But one thing they have in common is that they are both in the middle of a midlife crisis that leads to a lot of sex, a little violence and a lot of the movie’s veritable food — a sweet and creamy turkey cheese — This is purchased, consumed and even spread over bare flesh.
Manchevski clearly wants his films to have the same light and sweet consistency, but his humor is harsh and his gender politics teetering, even as female characters dominate the narrative. There’s also too much sexy that isn’t, well, sexy, giving the film a borderline vulgar side that lacks broad appeal. It’s unlikely to go very far after taking part in the main race in Tokyo.
This scene has an upstairs/downstairs divide, which is initially interesting, although Manchevski never takes it anywhere: living in the building’s fabulous penthouse Wealthy banker Eva (Kamka Tocinovski) and her idle husband Metodi (Filip Trajkovikj) have everything except the inability to conceive. They agree to hire Dosta (Sara Klimoska), a young relative from the countryside, as a surrogate mother, but when Dosta wants to take on a more willing role in the baby’s life than Eva, their family is turned upside down for her.
Meanwhile, the cramped ground-floor apartments are occupied by working-class Karamba (Alexander Mikic) and Dench (Simona Spirovska). He is an elderly security guard at the bank where Eva works, and she works in a bakery. Their relationship was clearly strained, but everything changed when Caramba started having an affair with a local food vendor – and kaymak seller – Violetka (Ana Stojanovska), who gradually turned the couple into a happy one , perverted trio, if only
The film jumps back and forth between two trios who rarely interact until the final fatal encounter. Manchevski has used a similar approach in his previous work, following characters whose fates are intertwined at different points in the same story, allowing him to tackle a theme – such as the impact of the Yugoslav war on Macedonia (now officially known as North Macedonia) Before the rain — from a different angle.
But the approach here doesn’t produce anything as powerful as the director’s debut, with each trio reaching levels of hysterical wanton as sexual and marital tensions erupt. in public during a nervous breakdown. The group of naughty antics downstairs isn’t appealing, and Calamba is quickly left behind as the two women in his life fall madly in love. He ends up being their humiliated footman, serving them coffee using nothing but an apron, giving us a bit of ass shaking in the process. Seriously, who wants to see it?
Manchevski seems to be commenting on how the needs of the individual and the needs of the couple are perpetually conflicting, but his observations are often reduced to the level of caricatures. Applying some of the stylistic devices that have appeared in his other films – over-saturated colors, immersive handheld photography, a lot of crossover between stories – he never managed to Kaymak into something fascinating. Despite all the sex, domestic drama, and at least one death at the end, the film ends up feeling anecdotal—a little work from a director who once gave us something big.
Full credits
Venue: Tokyo International Film Festival (Competition)
Production company: Banana Movie
Cast: Sarah Klimoska, Kamka Tochnovsky, Alexander Mikic, Simone Spirovska, Anna Stowe Yanovska, Philip Trakovic Director and Director Screenwriter: Mirjo Manchewski Producer: Jane · Kotoshev Executive Producers: Milcho Manchevski, Ian Prior
Director of Photography: Ulrik Boel Bentzen
Production Designer: David MunnsMusic: Danish String Season
Edit: Emiel Nuninga
in Macedonian
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