Zagreb Equinox (2019) User Reviews

An authentic and hilarious joyride

[janswolo · 10/10 · 13 January 2020]

I don't remember the last time I saw a movie whose vibe and humor resonated so much with me! From the begininng, all the way to the credits, this thing is so dynamic, "action packed" (if you can say that about a movie with no violence), and brilliantly witty and charming! I won't go into the plot here, but really, 90 percent of it is fun, fast, new, and young. And I think that is something that makes Zagreb Equinox stand out, even in global context, but absolutely in the context of croatian cinema. You can absolutely feel the new, urban, digital spirit behind this movie, and when you find out that the movie is a no budget project, made by high schoolers and students, it's no longer great - it's impressive!

Got more than expected :)

[karlabirkic · 9/10 · 17 September 2019]

I've been expecting this film for a long time and it has not disappointed me. Yes, there are many flaws, but considering how much it has been done without a budget and with a bunch of kids who had the will to do this, I can call this a really good film. It is very relatable to the new generation, it's funny and it has a charisma. On a more technical level there are things that could or perhaps should be changed, but people who worked on it, worked hard, that's why it took so long to finally put it out there. It is quite different from any other Croatian film and I think that is what the director and the crew were going for. They were/are tired of monotony of Croatian film, of the same old topics that are being reused over and over again. They wanted to be different and new and do it in their own style under the influence of god knows how many things and they did it. The purpose of this film wasn't meant to be educational or to win all the big awards, it was to show that a Croatian film can be something different, it was to wake up young people to start doing something of their own and to pay attention to Croatian film rather than just watching blockbusters. This film represents all the stupidity of young people living their best life, it was meant to be kind of "stupid" and "goofy" and "sarcastic," it does not have to be critically acclaimed as an amazing film, it only has to win the young audience's heart and wake them up and I personally think that it has done that so far, but is also going to do that in the future and I think that's what Croatian cinema needs.

A very good start

[nimdude · 5/10 · 16 September 2019]

I doubt anyone but Croatians are familiar with Croatian cinema, but almost nothing in it is like this film. That being said the actual film itself lacks a lot of minimum requirements to make it an above average movie but one cannot hold that against a young talent with barely any money in a country that cares about movies as much as Stalin cared about starvation. The main problems that hold this movie back are the characters, sound and acting. I'll only repeat this one last time, but all of these problems are justified due to the budget. Since the movie is plot based, like a Guy Ritchie film, the characters are there to serve the plot rather than vice versa. I felt that this held the movie back from being anything other than average due to the fact that the story is an everyday pothead/student story. There was nothing truly exciting in the plot, and the plot itself was more of a gimmick than an actual story. A few stories that start the same, separate then reconnect. It wasn't written that interestingly and there wasn't a truly shocking or exciting event that happened throughout the entire plot. The fact that the climax and ending, which was the party that the movie revolves around, was very anti climactic and didn't have a real payoff, similar to the characters in the movie, which are almost non existent. All of them kind of speak in the same intonation, none of the actors emote further than any amateur actor would and none of the characters go through any change throughout the movie, and we all know audiences like characters more than the things characters do. There were two friends that the plot was following that had really bad chemistry and weren't portrayed very well, kind of stuck out like a sore thumb. Movies like these deserve better written characters. Something else that sticks out like a sore thumb would be the "homages" to directors that this films director obviously loves dearly. Guy Ritchie and Edgar Wright were the ones that were front and center. Quick swipe cuts, character bio's on screen, editing tricks and so on. None of them were new or inventive, just something that literally anyone who has seen an Edgar Wright movie more than once would pick up on. Of course the editors cannot be faulted for this, most student films are made by copying their idol's style so this is perfectly understandable. The editing worked some times but some of the jokes repeated themselves too much and lost their humor, others just were too gimmicky, as if the director just made the editor put that transition there just to show that he could be like Edgar.

All of this being said I want to point out how astonishingly better the movie is than it deserves to be. Despite its very obvious flaws this movie is probably the most interesting film (indie or not) to be shown to young Croatian audiences. The director deserves a bigger budget and crew and maybe a better writing team and he's on his way to Hollywood. If I was giving this movie a score based on how good it should have been than it would be a solid 8, but looking at it just as a film it is definitely barely average. I just wish that the director (who is obviously competent) gets the budget he deserves 5/10

5 for effort.

[ricpe-inc · 5/10 · 16 February 2020]

Movie is ok, but it could have made it better without marxist subliminal messages. Shows very clear the state of education od students in Croatia, who are brainwashed by communist proffesors.

Diving into style, while still swiming on the surface

[akozina2 · 5/10 · 13 September 2019]

This film is a right start on a new path for Croatian cinema. While being a mix of tested forms that stem from Aristotle's Poetics, with a safe dive into a new Hollywood, "Tarantinoesque cinema" on digital. But both is not sufficient enough for this film to have it's own voice. And that I'm sorry for. But Svebor's arrival to film was recent and thus his style is yet to be shown. If he however sticks to a mix styles approach and never develops his own, he would be one of the directors. But seen in this film is a potential for more. The opening titles show that a type of poetic filmmaking could be his in the future. Until then this film is a fine work, but too poor on substance to change Croatian cinema as a whole. Nonetheless, a fine ground for the upcoming winds of change.