"May you live in interesting times" is a poignant adage that could applied to cinema people. One of them is Macedonian filmmaker Vladimir Blaževski who made his 1992 Yugoslav drama Boulevard of the Revolution in such period, when the old system began to disintegrate and the new one haven’t been established yet. Being fixed in particular time and place, it looks a little outdated when arriving to Croatian video stores in the late 1990s.
The title refers to the eponymous street (today known as “King Alexander Boulevard”), a main and historically significant traffic artery of Serbian (and then Yugoslav) capital of Belgrade where the plot takes place. Protagonist is Biljana (played by Bojana Maljević), a 17-year-old high schooler, whose life intersects with two starkly contrasting figure. One is Milivoj (played by Miralem Zupčević), her father and police officer, with whom he lives in modest apartment in dilapidated part of the city. Family has already been shaken by suicide of Biljana’s grandmother. Things might have gone even worse when Biljana got attacked by street thugs. She instead get rescued by Dragan “Jakuza” (played by Branislav Lečić), a man who is apparently one of the bosses of increasingly powerful Belgrade criminal underworld. This incident starts unusual relationship between the two. Although Dragan has fallen in love with Biljana, and although she also finds him atttractive, Dragan insists that their relationship remains platonic. This liaison is neverthless causing distress for Biljana's father, who perceives it as a personal insult.
At first glance, it looks like Boulevard of the Revolution has captured the spirit of the times of transition. It can be seen in two men around which Biljana’s life revolves. The one is her father, representative of an old, authoritarian order based on Communist ideology. The other is Dragan, younger man who, not despite but actually belonging to criminal underworld, represents forces of wild, ruthless and unrestricted capitalism which is going to replace it. Blaževski even briefly references “unpleasantness” that erupted during the production in the form of a war which is occasionally being mentioned on the radio and later even serves as a backdrop for ultimately weak and melodramatic subplot. But few viewers, except those who were familiar with that unpleasant chapters of history, would care about those details. Blaževski had serious problems with his script, which burdens relatively simple story with levels of melodrama more suitable for Latin American telenovelas, which affect the film’s pacing. The dialogue is atrocious, and even the talented cast, which includes future Serbian culture minister Branislav Lečić, can’t do much to improve on film’s quality. The worst part of the film is soundtrack by Rade Bulatović and Milimir Drašković which annoyingly plays throughout the film regardless of what is actually happening on the screen. Times might have been “interesting” for characters and producers, but they won’t be for the viewers of Boulevard of the Revolution.
RATING: 3/10 (+)
(Note: Original version of the review is available here.)
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