No one’s son

TITLE

Original title – NICIJI SIN, In English – NO ONE’S SON, In German – NIEMANDSKIND, In French – FILS DE PERSONNE, In Italian – IL FIGLIO DI NESSUNO, In Spanish – EL HIJO DE NADIE

ABOUT

NO ONE’S SON is Arsen’s second feature film, shot during the 32 shooting days in the Spring of 2007 and completed during the first half of 2008. It is based on Mate Matisic’s successful stage play with the same title.

No One’s Son was the absolute winner of the Croatian national fillm festival in Pula in 2008; it was the Croatian candidate for the 81st Annual Academy Awards and it was selected by the European Film Academy as one of the best European films in 2009.

Until the end of 2009 it participated at 21 film festivals and was awarded 16 national and international awards and recognitions, becoming probably the most awarded Croatian film in 2008 and 2009.

BRIEF STORYLINE

Ivan is a 36-year old ex-rock singer and a disillusioned war veteran who lost both legs in the recent Croatian Homeland War. His father, Izidor, was a well-known political prisoner in the former Yugoslavia, and is now standing as an independent candidate for the Croatian Parliament. Then a face from the past re-appears: an impoverished Serbian refugee called Simo, who has recently returned to the town. As an ex-communist official, Simo imprisoned Izidor decades ago. He knows certain facts about Izidor that could destroy his reputation and wreck his political campaign. Simo demands money, in return for his silence and he also has a secret rendezvous with Ivan’s mother, Ana. Soon a long-buried secret surfaces once more – with huge repercussions for Ivan. He starts to provoke hard-line Croatians by singing Serbian nationalistic songs, daring them to kill him.

LOG LINE

Ivan, a 36-year old ex-rock singer and a disillusioned war veteran who lost both legs in the recent Croatian Homeland War, discovers a dark family secret, which fundamentally changes his life he now wants to end.

PRINCIPAL ACTORS

Ivan – Alen Liveric, Izidor – Mustafa Nadarevic, Ana – Biserka Ipsa, Simo – Zdenko Jelcic, Inspector – Goran Grgic, Marta – Daria Lorenci Flatz, Josip – Niksa Mrksic, Stipe – Drazen Kuhn, Mika – Slaven Knezovic

CREW

Director – Arsen Anton Ostojic, Producer – Jozo Patljak, Screenwriter – Mate Matisic, Director of Photography – Branko Linta, Slobodan Trninic, Editor – Dubravko Slunjski, Composer – Mate Matisic, Art Director – Velimir Domitrovic, Costume Designer – Branka Tkalcec, Makeup Artist – Irena Hadrovic, Sound – Damir Kljucaric, Production Company – Alka film, d.o.o., Co-producers – Croatian TV and TV Slovenia

Year – 2008, Format – Super 35mm, Duration – 100 minutes (95 minutes at 25 fps), Length – 3150m, Number of Reels – 5, Aspect Ratio – Cinemascope 1:2,35, color, Color – In color, DI process, Sound – Dolby Digital

SYNOPSIS

Ivan is a 36-year old crippled war veteran, an ex-rock singer, who lost both legs some 15 years ago during the Homeland War in Croatia, when Serbian paramilitary soldiers forced him to walk through a minefield. Now, bound to a wheel chair, Ivan is facing the harsh reality of his everyday life: his ex-wife Marta and is about to leave for good to New Zealand, taking with her their 8 year old son, Josip. His fellow ex-comrades-in-arms are continuingly committing suicides and Ivan’s only choice is to live with his mother and father. Occasionally he visits prostitutes and smokes grass he buys from a local dealer. Ivan’s father Izidor, who was a political prisoner many years ago in the former Yugoslavia, is now running for Croatian Parliament as an independent candidate. Ivan refuses to participate in his father’s campaign, feeling that he would be used for his father’s own political goals.

The problems start when Simo, an impoverished Serbian refugee who has spent the last 12 years in exile in Serbia, returns to the town. Simo unexpectedly visits Ivan’s father Izidor to extort some money from him, in order to renovate his long-abandoned house. Simo knows a certain secret from the past which can ruin Izidor’s political career. It was Simo who, as a communist official, imprisoned Izidor 37 years ago on political charges. Besides this, Izidor soon discovers that his wife Ana, Ivan’s mother, has slept with Simo 37 years ago, in order to help Izidor while he was in prison. Simo unexpectedly returns to the house to see Ana while Izidor was out campaigning. Ana shoots Simo, trying to hide the fact that he is actually Ivan’s biological father. Soon Izidor joins Ana in getting rid of the dead body, thus trying to prevent the investigation lead by a police inspector, while Ivan refuses to participate in their dealings.

But the truth about Ivan’s biological father soon comes to the surface and Ivan loses the very last of the reasons that kept him alive. He decides to end his life, without actually committing suicide, by provoking hard-line Croatian nationalists by singing Serbian nationalistic songs. At first he doesn’t succeed, so he ends up in a mental institution, in a room with other patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. His father Izidor visits him and tries to get him out of the institution. However, Izidor’s efforts are unsuccessful and Ivan finally manages to provoke mental patients, who were prisoners in Serbian concentration camps, to kill him. While Ivan is being smothered to death by his provoked roommates, his ex-wife Marta comes to the institution with their son Josip to pay a visit to Ivan before leaving for good. Ivan’s son fails to recognize that his father is now dead, gets disappointed that Ivan doesn’t want to talk to him and together with Marta leaves the institution.         

NOTE: The story is not told in chronological order.

CRITICS COMMENTS

“Top notch performance that keeps you hanging at the edge of your seat… World class political thriller”
– Mate Curic, “Novi List”

“Excellent directing and effective camera work”
– Tomislav Kurelec, “Vjesnik”

“Conceived and executed like a Greek tragedy, the film gets right in your face from its opening scenes…. it overwhelms with its complex directing and excellent acting “
– Vesna Pazin “Slobodna Dalmacija”

“No One’s Son” is meticulously directed with a high sense of esthetics in each and every shot, resulting in a drama with exceptional atmosphere. Ostojic has tailored the story together using retrograde cuts with barely noticeable stitches. The movie instills turmoil to the audience from the very beginning, while skillfully leading us on to false conclusions, though laying down a very real trail of clues.
– Zoran Zmiric, www.popcorn.hr

“No One’s Son” is a movie that takes the best possible course in depicting post-war reality in the Balkans. The tragic heroes of this story do an excellent job of portraying the absurd of warfare and human blindness in times of vulnerability, when those in power skillfully manipulate human feelings and transforming people from self-aware individuals to emotional, mental and physical cripples.
– Zoran Zmiric, www.popcorn.hr

“This demanding drama has been impressively transferred to the screen visually, as well as in the aspects of directing and acting.”
– Robet Jukic, www.film-mag.net