the audience applauded

Some things I liked some I did not.

Lack of good storyline.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Perhaps I am missing something from this movie. I sat in front of 6 Serbians who laughed and hooted throughout the movie. Another couple of reviews (on this site) indicate "What on earth is happening in Serbian film and how can we seem MORE?". I say, "What on earth is happening in Serbian films and where is the closest exit so I can leave".I kept noticing a bunch of disconnects throughout the movie which irritated me. Milutin was fond of Besa me Mucho, supposedly because it reminded him of a previous love. This is understandable...However, his daughter sings this song often also. Not sure why the daughter sings this song. Perhaps she sings this song to forge a connection to her mobster dad? And why is she chronically depressed and always on the verge of jumping off a building? Is this due to her living in this dismal environment. This theme is never explored or developed.Stansilav also sings Besa Me Mucho. Why? Is it that this song evokes memories of a happier time? But this happier time was 14 years ago which certainly was no happy time in Serbia as this was during the war. There is a comment late in the movie (from Milutin's old love) that Stanislav looks like Milutin. This seems to intimate that Stanislav is Multin's son. If so, then Stanislav's mother is also Milutin's ex-lover. It is all so very convoluted.Also, don't know why Milutin left this supposed love of his life (that we see later in the movie) to marry someone else (the mother of his daughter). Was the someone else pregnant? We never know why he left this grand love to take up with this other woman. Perhaps this was meant to point out we often don't know the best parts of our lives until they are in the rear view mirror.Stanislav and Anica are a little more interesting, but again, Stanislav has been in love with this woman for 14 years supposedly for not much more than watching her nice breasts and seeing her romp in the concrete jungle courtyard in year's past. Oh yes, he also saw her naked body years ago after she had made love to some guy (who then got up and left). She hit the exiting lover over the head with a ladle and Stanislav thought this was engaging. Yes, don't we all hold fond/erotic thoughts of the opposite sex..especially if we are lucky enough to view them nude hitting a lover over the head with a kitchen utensil? These activities from Anica are certainly enough to peak a teenage boy's fancy, but not enough to sustain a love for 14 years.The end is predictable. Milutin has to go (he is dying) and Stanislav gets killed. Yawn, yawn, snooze, snooze. I would cross this off my list of "must-see movies".

You know you watched a really good film, when the credits end, and you caught yourself still sitting and thinking about the movie and all the messages entangled into it. I know it happened to me after Watching "Love and Other Crimes". The all-too-familiar ambient of the New Belgrade, Socialist style buildings and the people living there become a stage where the whole action of the movie is happening. What you see is people caught in the web of the past decisions, now time long regretting them, and without any bright future on their horizon. Their lives are put into the scope through the actions of the main protagonist, Anica, and her last 24 hours before permanently leaving this dark and gloomy place. She exacts her own justice (or should I say revenge) to all the people who where or still are important to her. But, when the young boy from the hood, Stefan, admits that he's in love with her, everything is about to change… This movie is about two most important things: Love…and change. It goes without saying, one cannot exist without other. Without love, there is no reason to change. But without love for yourself, there is no need to change, and that is far more destructive way to look and be in this world. From the begging to the end, this film shows us that by turning to yourself you start to heal not just your own mind and soul, but you also start the same thing in the people around you. Kudos to Stefan and the whole crew of this wonderful movie!

I liked this movie, which I saw at the Berlinale 2008. It even grows after a while - which is a great thing for any work of art (and love) Surely there must have gone a lot of love into making this movie - otherwise its not explainable why this portrait of a grim and Grey Serbian skyscraper quarter is so strong, believable and sometimes even beautiful in a strange way. Here in German Cinema there are a lot of examples of films with a social theme , portraying a dark reality but a lot of times they don't quite succeed -neither in the portrayal of society nor in cinematic terms. This film, coming from a small country like Serbia - which was still a war zone around 10 years ago - is a fresh example how to do it with success.

You may have seen my raves over Klopka from last year's Berlinale, but this year's offering was Love and Other Crimes (Ljubav i Drugi Zlocini in the original Serbian). I got excited the moment the film started rolling and I saw it starred Klopka's haunting Anica Dobra. At the end I stood up and asked, "What on earth is happening in Serbian film and how can we see MORE?" As an American, I can't help viewing the societal collapses endemic to Eastern Europe as the stimulus behind this post-modern film noir. But the director surprised me by answering my query in this vein with a note of optimism. Sure, of course, the end of open warfare is a definite positive, but to then see your society descend into the grips of common criminals in the inexorable name of capitalism, can hardly be optimistic!? I left the theater with the feeling that this particular young director had somehow surpassed himself, overreached his inherent ability. How wonderful when this is in service to art, and with the endlessly expressive face of Dobra, it is not hard to imagine this happening. Then, in further researching the film, I see a common thread -- Srdjan Koljevic, the co-writer -- and ask myself if perhaps he is the one to watch?