Causes of Yugoslavia’s bloody demise are going to be subject of many history books. The most obvious among them, ironically, served as an inspiration for the most popular feature film in that country’s history. Huge economic crisis that had struck in early 1980s, leading to commodity shortages, power blackouts, inflation and rampant unemployment, provided backdrop for the script of A Tight Spot a.k.a. Tesna koža, 1982 comedy directed by Milivoje “Mića” Milošević.
Protagonist, played by Nikola Simić, is Dimitrije “Mita” Pantić, 56-year old junior clerk in state-owned company. Although he is supposed to belong to middle class, he is constantly frustrated with challenges of living together with nagging wife Persida (played by Ružica Sokić), elderly grumpy mother (played by Rahela Ferari) and three children – daughter Mira (played by Danica Maksimović) who can’t get job despite graduating from law school; son Branko (played by Gojko Baletić), astronomy student who can’t finish his degree; and youngest son Saša (played by Aleksandar Todorović), high school student who is at odds with tyrannical English teacher nicknamed “Japanese” (played by Irfan Mensur). Pantić is also forced to share apartment with Suzana (played by Jelica Sretenović), aspiring model and tenant whom he can’t evict due to incomprehensible property laws. His meagre salary, due to rising costs of living, barely allows him to make ends meet and, on occasion, power in his home gets disconnected over unpaid bills. Situation isn’t any better at work, where Pantić is frustrated by his arrogant and corrupt boss Srećko Šojić (played by Milan Gutović), man always willing to give jobs and promotions in exchange for money or sexual services. For Pantić, the only hope for bright future comes in the form of sport betting.
Despite smashing all box-office records, A Tight Spot, at least in strictly technical sense, isn’t particularly remarkable film. Mića Milošević, Serbian director whose forte was always comedy, does solid but not too impressive job, and the film in many ways looks rough around the edges. Main reason is the lack of tight plot. Instead, many scenes are very loosely connected, some look repetitive and some (like the one in which Šojić attempts to visit his wife in beauty salon) don’t have much to do with the rest of the film. What rescues this film from mediocrity is screenplay by Siniša Pavić, Serbian writer known for Otpisani and Bolji život, some of the most popular television shows in history of Yugoslavia. He creates simple but memorable characters and uses cynicism and dark humour to portray serious existential issues that began to concern people at that particular time.
In that, he is aided by immensely talented cast. Nikola Simić plays the best known and the most successful role of his career. Despite hairstyle, clothing and moustache that makes Pantić grotesquely comical and even with sarcastic remarks addressed towards members of his household, audience can accept him as Joe Average, an ordinary man who tried to do the right thing and follow the rules of socialist regime only to be faced with encroaching poverty, rising inequality and rampant corruption that makes mockery of all of the regime’s ideals. In 1980s it was easy for many in Yugoslavia to find common ground with Pantić and understand its pent-up frustration that would in the end escalate in comically violent action in the last frame of the film. Another great actor in this film is recently deceased Milan Gutović, an actor who played Šojić in Milošević’s previous film Laf u srcu. His portrayal of a crude, uneducated and unrefined, but utterly arrogant and corrupt apparatchik in this film is the most memorable role of his career. In many ways it symbolised not only everything what was wrong with elites in the latter stages of Communist period, but also the elites that came after the collapse of Communism and Yugoslavia (and in many cases remaining the same). Unsurprisingly, Šojić remained iconic character even decades after the premiere and in many post-Yugoslav countries. Irfan Mensur is also very good in his role, although his character’s obsession with Japanese, their workaholic ways and formidable economic skills makes this film a little bit aged, with humour clearly based on 1980s stereotypes.
Like many of such comedies, made in specific time and place for specific audiences, A Tight Spot might not be properly understood by those born in later decades or outside the areas of what used to be Yugoslavia. A lot of humour, for example, is based on Šojić’s regional background, with heavy accent that sounds very much like dialect used in southern parts of Serbia. What makes this film even more dated is, ironically, what helped it make a big hit in the first place. One of the weaker scenes takes place in the restaurant where the patrons are entertained by Fikreta Jahić a.k.a. Lepa Brena, folk singer which was becoming major cultural phenomenon at the time. She performs two of her popular songs, but their appearance was in only a clever (and quite successful) attempt to bring her fans to the cinemas. In many ways it represents the same pandering like the character of Šojić’s secretary Melita (played by Nada Vojinović) appearing topless in one scene simply in order to have that image prominently used in film’s poster. Many critics saw this as pandering to lowest common denominator and A Tight Spot, despite its commercial success, wasn’t liked in more snobbish circles. Other ingredients to the commercial formula proved to be less offensive, like the main part of soundtrack, provided by rock band Riblja čorba and the songs from its album Buvlja pijaca which, with its darkly humorous lyrics represent best form of Greek chorus this film could have. For such successful films sequels were inevitable and A Tight Spot ultimately spawned three more feature films and Serbian television show Bela lađa in late 2000s.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/50752-tesna-ko-a Critic: AA
