User Reviews

I heard some great recommendations for this film before I see it, so naturally, I was expecting something fresh. From the very opening of the film, I was sure I am not looking at anything different. However, I decided to give it a chance.

The film altogether is not all that bad. First of all, I do find the acting very honest and even though the characters are complete stereotypes, the chemistry between the actors is powerful and carries the film's credibility on a decent level. But its the general atmosphere and director's style that I find really pathetic and cliché. Of course, it all comes from Balkan mentality, which is all about feeling sorry for ourselves. And to all of this - all the clichés that you can expect from a Balkan film - desperate jobless people constantly mumbling about the great past and f****d up present, nationalism, ethnic conflict, memories of war, foreigners and NGO's (in this case horribly acted by Macedonian actors who's English accents were typically Macedonian..) The film tends to be very "authentic" and "real" and in the same time, it blows out of proportion all of the above mentioned clichés. The most disturbing fact about this film is that people tend to like it, which only shows that Balkan nations as well as most Balkan filmmakers have pretty much stuck their heads in their pathetic, self-pitying b**s, and according to this, they are not coming out of there any time sooner. Having in mind that almost every Balkan film is like that, especially some of the more successful ones, PUNKS NOT DEAD is easily comparable to a cheap Hollywood remake in its unoriginality and lack of distinctive point of view.