Celts (2021 | Serbia | 106 mins | Milica Tomović)
Set in Belgrade/Yugoslavia in ’93, Marijana dedicates her day, her life, to her family. Today she’s making sure everything is ready for her daughter Minja’s birthday: fixing the food, inviting the kids, opening her home to family and friends all the while quietly holding a lingering sadness brought on by age, a dwindling sex life and tensions throughout her country. The party begins and we’re split off into two worlds, one where the kiddos celebrate through the veneer of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme while the adults talk about politics, sexual freedoms, new and old loves, and everything in between. It’s a slice of life that seems incredibly familiar yet entirely foreign with a war-torn backdrop that many of us in the US are fortunate enough never to have experienced. Near the end of the night things start to take a turn. You just want someone to smile and be happy, but the dreary world they live in puts a damp cloth over every thing and every one despite the festivities. Majka is desperate for anything to feel and she goes to great lengths to find it.
This is definitely the moodiest movie of my MVFF experience and you have to be in a particular mindset to really get into it. Even so, with the stylized setting, the clothes, the language and mannerisms you feel submersed in the early 90’s in every way. Now that everyone (and I mean everyone) has been through a life-changing experience over the last year, one that will effect who we are and how we see the world forever, watching these young and middle-aged folks spending time together, conversing about their world feels completely comfortable and appropriate. We’re all a little (or a lot) more involved in what’s going on around us than we used to be and it seems fitting that this film came into our lives this year. While nothing really happens per say, that’s sort of the point and what makes it a beautifully simple story. We’ve all felt desperation in a dreary life, we’ve all felt neglected and lost. The build up early on in the film allows you to get to know each person in the “family” (both blood and chosen) as they enter the house; you slowly become one of them yourself. Ingratiated, almost baptized as part of the story, becoming a fly on the wall watching it all happen.
Celts was shown at the Mill Valley Film Fest both in person and virtually 10/7 – 10/17. As of right now, it’s not set to stream anywhere else but keep your eyes peeled at upcoming festivals.