Tu (2003) Reviews

• huge surprise from croatian film industry!

  mv792003-10-31

  Not being a huge fan of croatian films, I was honestly surprised by this one. It is, for sure,the best croatian film in last ten years. It begins with an episode about a war in Bosnia, and just when you think "another croatian war movie" everything changes. Composed of six short stories connected only by the fact that one of the protagonists from the first one appears in each of them (as a leading or as a supporting role), film depicts some of croatia`s social problems. Not all stories are of equally good, but all together they make well rounded film. I should also point out surprisingly good acting especially from some of the young actors, such as Jasmin Telalovic and Marija Tadic. Film has some imperfections and can`t be compared to european masterpieces, but it is a true refreshment in croatian film industry and is worth watching.Well done, and we can only hope this film will be a step closer to quality film production in Croatia and not just an exception!

• Touching and masterly directed movie

  dinamanelli2005-02-17

  The winner of the KRZYSZTOF KIESLOWSKI AWARD for Best Feature Film at the 27th Starz Denver International Film Festival (shared with Laila Pakalnina's "Python"). The Balkan conflict and its legacy continue to be reflected in Croatian cinema. A success with both audiences and critics, Zrinko Ogresta's new film makes no attempt to find heroes or apportion blame. Beginning with the story of a mentally disabled man in a village recently devastated by civil war, his fourth feature consists of six loosely linked portraits of characters from contemporary life (they also include a young female drug addict, a lonely retired man, who is deluded into accepting a young female neighbour's offer of a date, a television actor who has become an alcoholic, and two soldiers unable to integrate and marked by trauma).The stories present situations in which the characters find themselves at odds with an apparently normal world, living essentially private lives and unable to establish relationships. There is a no narrative resolution although the film ends with the ironic use of the national anthem before the camera retreats through a tunnel similar to that with which the film begins. The war frames and inflects a sympathetic and humane portrait of everyday life that recognises that all generations may be permanently marked.

• A true piece of art from European cinematography !

  virginia_austen2003-11-19

  Great movie ! For me the best one I ever saw from former Yugoslavia. Intelligent,impressionable, with brilliant actors. TU is like a small pearl, a true piece of art from European cinematography. I saw the film during the summer at Croatian film festival in Pula and I'm really curious about it's international future.

• WOW! FINALLY - THE MOVIE !

  marcosentinni2004-09-28

  As hopeless as life can become, perhaps nothing is harder to bear than the false promise of something better. In these beautifully composed vignettes, a group of characters in contemporary Croatia struggle to see the light at the end of the post-war tunnel: A simpleton cares for a wounded bird in a war zone, a desperate junkie looks to her family, a once famous actor wanders through the night, an old man feels restored after meeting a young traveler and a former soldier is estranged from his family. The magnificent actors in this ensemble instill their characters with an enchanting vitality. Moments of Here may be difficult to watch, but it is even more difficult to look away.The winner of the Milan Film festival 2004.