Two Players from the Bench on Tribeca Film Festival.
First Croatian film in festival’s competition
Two Players from the Bench
Dva Igraca S Klupe
Int’l Narrative Competition
[TWOPL] 2005 112 min
Directed By: Dejan Sorak
International Premiere
Film Trailer:
http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/tixSYS/2006/filmguide/event_np_trailer.php?EventNumber=1957
Interethnic tensions and the bitter legacy of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia provide the black comic grist for Two Players from the Bench, one of the first films from the troubled region that openly addresses these explosive topics. Ante and Dusko, a Croat and a Serb, find themselves dragooned by a mysterious government functionary and held captive in a deserted military base on the outskirts of Zagreb. There the two former volleyball players are briefed on their roles in a convoluted plan to exonerate a Croat military officer, Colonel Skoko, from his war crimes indictment. Offered 20,000 Euros to impersonate two of Skoko’s ex-officers and supply exculpatory testimony in The Hague, the two reluctantly agree. But their captor/employer isn’t being totally honest with them, and a host of complications soon ensue: a Ukrainian sex slave enters the picture, Ante and Dusko have trouble keeping their cover stories straight, and Ante’s lack of an identifying scar forces him to come up with ever more elaborate explanations in front of the International War Crimes Tribunal. By turns darkly comic and disturbingly Kafkaesque, Two Players from the Bench eschews the easy path of making the two ancient enemies become fast friends while in captivity. The performances are uniformly stellar, especially Goran Navojec as Ante, the burlier of the two men. With his antic mannerisms and arched eyebrows, he seems at times to be channeling the spirit of John Belushi, and could probably find a lucrative career in U.S. comedy if Croatian cinema proves insufficiently remunerative.
– Robert Schnakenberg
http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/tixSYS/2006/filmguide/event_np_summary.php?EventNumber=1957
Director/Screenwriter:
Dejan Sorak
Producer:
Ivan Maloca
Cinematographer:
Vjekoslav Vrdoljak, HFS
Composer:
Mate Matisic
Art Director:
Mario Ivezic
First Assistant Director:
Branka Turkalj
Cast:
Goran Navojec, Borko Peric, Tarik Filipovic, Dora Lipovcan, Rene Gjoni
Dejan Sorak
Born in Croatia in 1954, Dejan Sorak has been writing and directing films since his graduation from the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb in 1978. A playwright, theater director, novelist, and recipient of numerous prizes, he has also made Little Train Robbery (1984)
and An Officer with a Rose (1987), which was distributed in over 40 countries. Sorak went on to make The Bloodsuckers (1989), The Time of the Warriors (1991), and Garcia (1999). His work has screened at film festivals around the world, including the Montreal, Cairo,
Valencia, Munich, Alexandria, and New Delhi Festivals.
Dejan Sorak’s biography in Croatian:
http://www.film.hr/bazafilm_ljud.php?katx=1&ljud_id=204
Screenings:
– AMC Loews Lincoln Sq 6, Saturday April 29, 8:15pm
– Tribeca Cinemas 1, Monday, May1, 6:30pm
– Regal Cinemas Battery Park 11, Wednesday, May 3. May, 1:00pm
– AMC Loews Village VII 2, Thursday, May 4, 10:30am
– AMC Loews 34th Street 12, Friday, May 5, 7:30pm
Op-ed:
Come and support our Croatian talent. To be present on Tribeca Film Festival is not an everyday event. How do you support film? By showing up and spreading the word among your friends, especially those who are related to the entertainment industry. It is our DUTY to help fill all the screenings.
NB