Encouraged by enthusiastic reviews and impressively large audiences who had rushed into theatres to see the film before me, I was hoping for another of those gems that Serbian cinema has always had a knack for producing, such as "Who Sings Over There", "The Marathon Family", and, in more recent history, "Cabaret Balkan". No such luck. "The Parade" provides a few good laughs, though most of its biggest laughs were inevitably tapped from its steady undercurrent of toilet humour.
The film contains no characters, just caricatures, whether they are gay, macho, rabid hooligans, or weird mixtures of nationalistic stereotypes. The finesse is unknown territory in this film: put a menacing tattoo on his neck - there, a perfect skinhead! Tell him to move his hand in a funny way - there, a perfect gay! Cut! Fortunately, a few actors such as Nikola Kojo and Hristina Popovic manage to at least seem believable, Lord praise their acting skills; others just slouch around the set, looking very uncomfortable in the clichés they are wearing.
Where the film truly strikes the rock bottom is its storyline. Transformations that certain characters undergo in a short span of time are too sudden to be plausible, but then again, there is no pretense of telling a plausible human story. When the grim finale arrives, it feels like an entirely different film, which does not really help. Suddenly, instead of lowbrow jokes aimed at homophobic and nationalistic hatred, and, yes, excrement, there is a dizzying turn under supervision of High Moral Authority, accompanied by stern messages of Peace, Love and Universal Brotherhood. Well, perhaps it might have worked at the end of a completely different film... Here, though... If I were gay, I would feel offended.
Still, there may lie the only absolving quality of "The Parade". Many people have seen this film, if only for the laughs. If some of them feel less homophobic after seeing it, it has done some good. That's where I'm investing at least two of my four stars for the film.
The film contains no characters, just caricatures, whether they are gay, macho, rabid hooligans, or weird mixtures of nationalistic stereotypes. The finesse is unknown territory in this film: put a menacing tattoo on his neck - there, a perfect skinhead! Tell him to move his hand in a funny way - there, a perfect gay! Cut! Fortunately, a few actors such as Nikola Kojo and Hristina Popovic manage to at least seem believable, Lord praise their acting skills; others just slouch around the set, looking very uncomfortable in the clichés they are wearing.
Where the film truly strikes the rock bottom is its storyline. Transformations that certain characters undergo in a short span of time are too sudden to be plausible, but then again, there is no pretense of telling a plausible human story. When the grim finale arrives, it feels like an entirely different film, which does not really help. Suddenly, instead of lowbrow jokes aimed at homophobic and nationalistic hatred, and, yes, excrement, there is a dizzying turn under supervision of High Moral Authority, accompanied by stern messages of Peace, Love and Universal Brotherhood. Well, perhaps it might have worked at the end of a completely different film... Here, though... If I were gay, I would feel offended.
Still, there may lie the only absolving quality of "The Parade". Many people have seen this film, if only for the laughs. If some of them feel less homophobic after seeing it, it has done some good. That's where I'm investing at least two of my four stars for the film.