Srdjan Karanovic: Characters Under Siege
Representative of a generation of filmmakers that first appears on the Yugoslav film scene during the seventies, Srdjan Karanovic has followed a course which, at first sight, seems more like someone wandering around a vast space, rather than diligently exploring a specific place. Thus, going through his filmography, we come across stories of the bourgeoisie, side by side with comedies of manners, historical dramas, but also tragedies and portrayals of modern times. There seems to be no continuity, while the cross over from one genre to the other, from one theme to the other, from one directorial style to the other is smooth and effortless.
In an interview, Srdjan Karanovic observes that, within his oeuvre, one can distinguish three tendencies. The first is "experimental". These are films that offer space to amateur actors in order for them to gain a reputation, films where improvization allows different versions of a popular culture to become the prevalent element of fiction (Society Game, Faithless Woman Look at Me, and The Fragrance of Wild Flowers). The images of these films appear as islands of primitivism amidst the uniformity of the bourgeois world; as spaces that reject its standardization and aesthetics.
The second tendency is illustrated by films whose center is occupied by characters from the director's generation and where the plot is located in a bourgeois environment (Something In-Between, a section of A Film with No Name). Here, it is obvious that the bourgeois setting determines both the psychology of the characters, as well as their morality: it imposes values and lifestyles, and determines relationships.
The third tendency involves films that are, foremost, of "ethnological interest". These are based on myths and stories of the past, which include sufficient material to fuel the telling of a story. Films like Virdzina and Petria's Wreath belong to this tendency. In these films, it is popular tradition, manners and customs that determine the framework, and it is their dynamics that create the necessary conflicts in the plot.
Yet, these three separate tendencies that the artist sees in his work, all develop on common ground. There is an invisible thread that connects these films, a subterranean axis that appears to run through the photography of Srdjan Karanovic. These are characters that are trapped by their own ambitions, or are slaves to their passions; characters who wish to be free of a reality that they cannot control; characters who seek to define their identity: the characters in the films of Srdjan Karanovic are caged in. And perhaps this, according to Karanovic, is precisely the duty of the filmmaker: apart from filming, he must free the characters from their fetters; show them an escape route; help them discover their true identity...
BIOGRAPHY
He was born on November 17, 1945, in Belgrade. In 1970, he graduated from Prague's FAMU film school. He began his career in short films, and then went on to television, where he directed over 70 documentaries, as well as successful TV series (Unpicked Strawberries) and TV movies (Faithless Woman, Look at Me). His first feature film, Society Game (1972) was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in the "Quinzaine des realisateurs" section. Six years later, his second feature film, The Fragrance of Wild Flowers received the FIPRESCI award at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival ("Semaine de la Critique"). He collaborated with Rajko Grlic on many of his screenplays, and also on the screenplay for Grlic's own film Bravo Maestro (1978). He taught as a visiting professor at Columbia University in New York.
SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
(English titles)
1972 Society Game
1977 The Fragrance Of Wild Flowers
1980 Petria's Wreath
1983 Something In-Between
1985 A Throatful of Strawberries
1988 A Film with No Name
1991 Virdzina
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