Tesna koza (1982) Reviews

• Highest Grossing Yugoslav movie ever

  dima-121999-11-20

  "Tesna koza" is an urban satire directed by one of the Yugoslav most commercial filmmakers Mica Milosevic who was specialized in comedy.The movie still holds the title of Yugoslav highest grossing feature."Tesna koza" had over million viewers in theatrical release in ex-Yugoslavia which is a great result if we know that ex-Yugoslavia had a population of 20 million in all. The movie has a cult following in Bulgaria and ex-USSR. The comedy itself strictly focuses on satirizing the Serbian mentality.The whole movie is full of hillarious one-liners that are,unfortunately,funny only to Yugoslavs.The style of script is strictly American and the mentioned style is of comic book origin. This means that characters are described not only through what they do but also through their whole appearance and looks. Simic is fine as the clerk who has lots of problems while Gutovic's performance is hillarious in the role of Simic's boss. Lots of bad taste is fortunately covered lots of laughs and thus "Tesna koza" still remains as the monument of Yugoslav commercial cinema...

  More

• Excellent social comedy

  Alfabeta2007-01-29

  First part of long running classic comedy series successful all over former Yugoslavia. Plot: The story about Dimitrije Mita Pantic (Nikola Simic) bureaucratic clerk of lower clerking rank, who expects promotion any day now, for over twenty years. He has completely dysfunctional family. Younger son (Aleksandar Todorovic) has problems at high school with his English teacher (Irfan Mensur), who kids call "Japanac" (Japaneese), because he always talks about Japanese efficiency. The older one needs money all the time for stationeries for his astronomy major on college, which he can't seem to pass. Daughter (Danica Maksimovic) wants to get married and wants money to "improve" herself as a catch. Wife (Ruzica Sokic) who runs the household, wants money for new appliances, and Dimitrije's mother (Rahela Ferari) always complains how things were better in the old days. They also have a women who lives in the nationalized room in their apartment (Jelica Sretenovic), with whom they don't get along at all. She promises them that she'll go if they pay her to go. Dimitrije on top of all this has a corrupt boss Srecko Sojic (Milan Gutovic) who occasionally makes deal for the firm and skins a bonus for himself from the deals. Only tree things keep Dimitrije going: Bettings, lottery and possibility of promotion. All the family problems slowly escalate, and the day when one promotion will be given is coming. End plot. This comedy of situation is in fact satire of socialist bureaucracy that chews up the little guy in its process. Nikola Simic plays the perfect average Joe and he is very likable character. When he finally loses his temper and decides to give everyone what they deserve he instantly becomes the hero for the audience. That is way the series was so successful. Not to mention great cast, and good screenplay (not so good in later sequels). Soundtrack for the movie was done by one of the best rock groups in former Yugoslavia, Riblja Corba (Fish Soup). Some of the memorable songs include "U dva ce cistaci odneti djubre" (At two A.M. the garbageman will take the garbage) as the fitting opening number, or "Pravila, Pravila" (Rules, Rules) as the closing number. Actually this is one of the first movies to have a full soundtrack, and one of first movies in which the soundtrack was used to follow the storyline. Direction is very good and the locations are well chosen. Jokes and gags will stick to you, and you'll want to check out all the sequels later undoubtedly.

  More

• Seeing that it's not ridiculous enough for camp, it's just bad.

  Decko_koji_obecava2008-02-28

  From a 26-year distance, I'm almost tempted to wax-poetic while surrendering to "Tesna koza"'s nostalgic aspects... but I won't. Considering this was its highest grossing motion picture ever, is it any wonder Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia disintegrated in a bloodthirsty orgy blending various flavours of pent-up hatred. Not to be too harsh and cynical about it, but, damn, this movie is W-E-A-K. Low-rent screenplay, stale gags, and single-take acting aside, it's the lack of any plot that is the most objectionable. It's almost as if they knew what a huge commercial hit it would become, so they apriori decided to leave the attempts at coming up with a remotely coherent storyline for the sequels. Another problem is the focus on Pantic and his home life instead of on his relationship with Sojic or on Sojic himself. Thankfully, this was also later rectified in the sequels. Created and conceived by Sinisa Pavic, probably the most prolific writer ever to work in Yugoslav and Serbian film and television, "Tesna koza" is one of the centerpieces of his bloated, predictable, and, lately, persistently tedious career opus. Now, the movie still has some brief moments - a few jokes do hit the spot - but they're far too isolated in a sea of low end mediocrity. Anyway, our hero Mita Pantic is a jumpy, highstrung fiftysomething bureaucrat living with a pain-in-the-ass housewife and three unappreciative grown children as well as a crabby mother and an antagonistic subtenant who's assigned a room in their apartment through a bylaw introduced by Yugoslav commies and enforced for decades in order to cope with housing shortages. Pantic's career is hardly anything to write home about either - he works as a junior clerk at a crumbling commie company under a farcically corrupt boss Srecko Sojic. And that's literally it. That's the "plot" - Pantic shouts, he gesticulates, he launches into exhausting semi-tirades... There is also a handful of half-ass storyline attempts on offer: high school professor who teaches English to Pantic's son falling in love with their subtenant, Pantic betting on soccer fixtures and winning some money, Pantic being offered a bribe at work, and Sojic promoting an incompetent young typist just to be able to bang her. Honestly, any way one looks at it, this barely even qualifies as a feature movie. The only things that tangibly separate it from a slapped together TV production are the occasional swearing and the extended shots of Sojic secretary's naked tits as well as Lepa Brena's (oh yes, she's in the movie too) long legs and plunging decoltage.

  More