Honeymoons (film)
Honeymoons is a 2009 Serbian-Albanian drama film directed by Goran Paskaljević and co-written by Paskaljević and Genc Permeti.
Plot
Hoping for a better life, two young couples leave their respective countries. Maylinda and Nik leave Albania by boat to Italy, to live their forbidden love. Meanwhile, Vera and Marko leave Serbia by train for Austria, through Hungary. Marko, a talented cellist, is lucky enough to enter the famous Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. But when they arrive at the border, although they have visas in order, their problems begin.Cast
- Nebojša Milovanović as Marko
- Jelena Trkulja as Vera
- Jozef Shiroka as Nik
- Mirela Naska as Maylinda
- Lazar Ristovski as Vera's Uncle
- Petar Božović as Vera's Father
- Bujar Lako as Nik's Father
- Yllka Mujo as Nik's Mother
- Aron Balazs as Hungarian Cop
- Mira Banjac as Stana
- Klodian Hoxha as Ilir
- Zinaida Dedakin as Vera's Aunt
Production
Produced by Nova film, Ska-Ndal, and Beograd Film, Honeymoons was the first film coproduction between Albania and Serbia. Goran Paskaljević was the director and co-wrote the film with Genc Permeti. Petar Putniković and Kristina Poženel edited the film.Financial support was provided by the Ministry of Culture and Information of Serbia, Apulia Film Commission, and the Albanian National Film Center. With a budget of €900,000, filming was done in Tirana using 35 mm movie film.
Release
Honeymoons premiered on 24 November 2009. It shown by the Museum of Modern Art from 9 to 15 September 2010, and at the International [Film Festival Rotterdam], Human Rights Watch Film Festival, and Venice Film Festival.Reception
Leslie Felperin, writing for Variety, praised the performances as "solid and harmoniously". Elise Nakhnikian, writing for Slant Magazine, called the film "the cinematic equivalent of a Theodore Dreiser novel". Dan Fainaru, writing for Screen Daily, praised Milan Spasic's cinematography as his "confident camera keeps the film moving briskly forward". The Hollywood Reporters review of the film praised the wedding scene as it "expertly blend humor and drama".Marsida Gjoncaj, writing for Tirana Times, criticized inaccuracies in the film, such as folk music from southern Albania being played in the north, buses from the north coming from central Albania, and the depiction of wedding customs at the Albanian and Serbian weddings.