War Live

Running time: 101 mins

War Live is an impressive tour de force from one of Yugoslavia's top filmmakers and is certainly one of the highlights in Cinequest's New Visions program, as it reigns as an astonishing voice in cinema. Poor Sergei! He's in Belgrade; Milosevic is in power; NATO bombing is expected at any moment - and he's trying to make an independent film! On top of all of this, Sergei's money has run out, his wife is about to leave him, and the secret service is on the set, looking for the co-producer, Sergei's suspect American friend, Harvey! What to do? Call a press conference and declare you're making a patriotic filmÉwith Harvey in the lead! Now, the state wants to take over the film. Things just go from bad to worse. War Live is about the perils of compromising oneself. Set against a volatile, even disturbing political background, where irreversible changes happen while you're blinking your eyes, War Live is bursting with explosive energy, absurd comedy, and high-speed confusion-the crazy joy and hysteria found in the cauldron of creation and destruction, where, in all its pain and glory, something new is being born. A new Yugoslavian cinema has arrived! Reviewed by Charlie Cockey