Ivko's Feast

"Ivkova Slava" was featured at the recent Festival of New Serbian Film, in Toronto. It was eagerly anticipated, as memories of "Zona Zamfirova" are still fresh here. As with Zona, director Sotra takes us back to times past with colour and exacting detail: the sets, the costumes, the use of regional dialect, the feeling for a time when Serbia was reemerging from centuries of Ottoman subjugation, and notably the accurate portrayals of the ancient customs of the 'slava', or 'patron saint's day feast'.

In Southern Serbia, there are long standing traditions of hospitality. There is also a long standing tradition of going to emotional extremes, as we see with Ivko's three best friends (four, if you count "what's-his-name" the uninvited Shakespeare-quoting stranger). Reacting to a perceived slight from their host, they set out to publicly embarrass him, and majorly overstay their welcome at Ivko's saint's day, leading to all sorts of mishaps, frustrations, and comic moments. I can say that the actors who portrayed Kurjak, Smuk and Kalcha very effectively got under my skin.... they brought to mind an old Serbian proverb that says, "Both fish and guests stink after they've been sitting around for three days" (in the original, "I gost i riba posle tri dana smrde"). Poor Ivko just can't get a break.

An excellent cast was selected, especially for the lead roles. The musical score was disappointing, relying on somewhat modern sounds for both incidental music and one spotlight number, "Insomnia" ("Nesanica"). The musical heritage of that region is so intoxicatingly rich, there was plenty to choose from that would have kept the mood captivating and authentic.