Danis Tanović
14 connections found
Filmography
View:
Connections, in both directions
A virtuoso black comedy about the Bosnian conflict circa 1993, writer-director Danis Tanovic's Oscar-winning film displays something of the wit of Joseph Heller's "Catch-22", while also echoing that book's frankness about the absurdities of war.
Bosnian writer-director Danis Tanovic, a prize-winning documentarian who filmed the war in Sarajevo, has created an anti-war movie that will remind Americans of the ironic absurdities seen in "Catch-22," the 1970 Mike Nichols film based on Joseph Heller's satiric novel.
(CNN) -- "No Man's Land," Danis Tanovic's absurdist chamber piece about the Bosnian war, is two parts Samuel Beckett to one part "Catch-22."
The Postcard Killings ultimately feels all too familiar, recalling not only such far superior films as Se7en , but also countless episodes of such television procedurals as the CSI and Criminal Minds franchises.
Additionally, the narrative decides to spin itself out about halfway through, a move that seeks to increase tension in a similar means as, say David Fincher’s killer reveal in Se7en , except the more the audience comes to know, the less the plot makes any kind of sense.
The problem is it’s still not enough time, meaning the rest of the remaining reveals come across silly, forced, underwritten, and at worst, like someone doing their damnedest to make a successful copy of Se7en.
There isn’t even much in the way of atmospherics, with the bright, glossy, location-shot look more apt for tourism promotion than a tale whose twisted mayhem owes considerable conceptual debt to “Se7en.”
The situation has echoes of Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune in John Boorman’s Hell in the Pacific (1969), but that quickly changes when a second Croatian, Cera (Filip Socagovic), comes “back to life.”
Except for an opening scene within blue-gray fog that recalls Giancarlo Giannini's woodland forays in Seven Beauties, No Man's Land doesn't do much with color or light effects besides the rather generic contrast of the idyllic meadow with the "War Is Madness" shenanigans among the characters.
The victim lying on top of the bouncing bomb may recall the scene with the sniper near the end of Full Metal Jacket, only Cera isn't begging to be killed—he just wants to take a shit.
He leaks the story to Jane Livingstone (Katrin Cartlidge of "Before the Rain") who turns the trapped soldier into an international incident which demands action.
The film doesn't have the elaborate scope of a film like Stanley Kubrick's "Paths of Glory, " but it still captures the perils of battle and the fear-laden boredom that is punctuated with moments of sheer terror.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
influenced No Man's Land (2001)
Themes
How this all plays out is more symbolic than real—director Tanovic establishes the absurdity of the war effort much like Kubrick does in Dr. Strangelove.
Well, that's been said before, and much better, by everything from "The Big Red One" to "Saving Private Ryan", "Johnny Got His Gun", "Hell Is For Heroes" and countless other war films.
No Man’s Land feels entirely too easy to deserve its comparison to Altman’s M*A*S*H and Kusturica’s Underground.
In a superb feature debut, writer-director Danis Tanovic has brought us what is probably the best anti-war film since "Johnny Got His Gun" with a powerful demonstration of how it boils down to individual combatants whose personalities and character are recognizable amidst the fears and terrors of warfare.
Sensing the truth behind Marchand's diplomatic words, she serves his commanding officer, Colonel Soft from the UN High Command in Zagreb (Simon Callow, "Four Weddings and a Funeral"), an ultimatum.
British actor Simon Callow ( Four Weddings and a Funeral ) does a nice job as the UN's big cheese Colonel Soft, trying to soft-pedal (pun intended) the situation for political gain.
Well, that's been said before, and much better, by everything from "The Big Red One" to "Saving Private Ryan", "Johnny Got His Gun", "Hell Is For Heroes" and countless other war films.
War movies have a tendency to be grandiose and didactic ( "Saving Private Ryan" ), action-packed and heroic ( "Behind Enemy Lines" ), maudlin and self-important ("Life Is Beautiful") -- or some combination thereof.
War movies have a tendency to be grandiose and didactic ( "Saving Private Ryan" ), action-packed and heroic ( "Behind Enemy Lines" ), maudlin and self-important ("Life Is Beautiful") -- or some combination thereof.