Klopka (The Trap) (2007)

"How far are you willing to go to save your only child?"

Srdan Golubovic's "Klopka" (2007), on the surface, deals with a familiar premise explored in several films and stories in the past and its thematic crux asks the above age old question. But the Serbian filmmaker, despite some cliché-ridden situations, manages to make "Klopka", based on a novel by Nenad Teofilovic, a good cut above the rest.

A middle class man Mladen (Nebojsa Glogovac) and his wife Maridja (Natasa Ninkovic) are leading a decent life with their only son Nemanja (Marko Djurovic). They aren't extravagant but they are content. Nemanja does crib about not having a cell phone like his classmates do, but Mladen promises him that he will get him one; only he doesn't know when and how. Fate strikes its first blow and Nemanja is diagnosed with a terminal heart illness that could cause fatal seizures. Unless he undergoes a critical surgery in Berlin (that would cost the family a bomb, about 26,000 euros, not surprisingly), Nemanja could succumb to any next seizure that comes by! 

In a desperate bid to gather funds, Maridja places an ad in the newspaper to seek help for little Nemanja. Little do they know that the ad would invite people from various circles trying to take advantage of their situation!

In one such test of vulnerability, after careful deliberation, Mladen accepts a job of murdering a rich business executive. The mysterious stranger who approaches him to do the job guarantees he would provide the entire surgery expense as well as travel ticket charges! A tempted Mladen sets out to do the task. But do things go as they planned? Can Mladen save Nemanja?

Plot synopses on various pages describe "Klopka" as a psychological thriller or a noir film. Frankly, although plot wise the film may seem to be such, it is actually a film that beneath its familiar, thriller exterior is a remarkably accurate depiction of life in the post-Milošević Serbian society. This was the transition phase when the middle class struggled to survive in their meagre paying State jobs, while some others moved on and got involved in shady practises, thus making a meteoric rise to a wealthy existence. What resulted was a wide gap between the rich and the poor.  The cost for Nemanja's surgery was an impossible to achieve amount for some, and for others it was just peanuts, even as insignificant as to spend on useless decoration items! This is highlighted in a shattering moment when Maridja, a school teacher takes up a job as a private tutor in a rich girl's house while the rich girl shows off a frame hanging on her plush mansion's wall which costs a little more than the amount quoted by the doctor for Nemanja's surgery!

Also highlighted in some key scenes, are other traits of the period, including shielding nefarious activities with claims of acts of patriotism. And in what is perhaps the only comical moment in the film, a clerk at a foreign owned bank, along with his other co-workers is seen putting on a fake smile, even when acknowledging the loan applicants' predicament, for fear of being taken to task if they don't smile when doing their financial dealings! It goes to show how these employees were at the mercy of their foreign based employers who made their way into a society that needed revival. 

These themes and a backdrop against which the story is set make "Klopka" stand out to a large extent. Despite treading familiar areas in the first forty minutes into the film, before the viewer could write off the story as being done to death, "Klopka" manages not to sink into predictable territory by introducing a good amount of surprising twists, some of them quite ironic and tragic. There are moments when the narrative does brink on the edge of contrivance, but there's nothing too extremely far-fetched or difficult to digest so as to take away from the film. It is near impossible not to feel a slight jab when Mladen, who strikes a pleasant acquaintance with Jelena (Anica Dobra), who comes to the same park with her child where Mladen takes Nemanja, has to face her in one of the most difficult and awkward moments in their lives that threatens to make one of them lose face and change things forever. 

Golubovic gives his film a rather gritty, realistic feel by capturing a grim, scarcely populated suburban neighbourhood using minimal filming techniques like handheld camera, a slightly grainy texture and a bluish tinge to the picture. The sound is mostly ambient and diegetic and the music is sparse except for a melancholic score that plays during important moments in the film. 

In spite of a rather sensitive theme at its centre, "Klopka" refrains from going into the melodramatic territory. It is the performances of Natasa Ninkovic and Nebojsa Glogovac that go a long way in holding the film together. The latter, in fact, delivers an understated, complex performance as a vulnerable husband torn between morals and duty to his family. It is a commendable display of a moral dilemma and it is very convincingly done. Mladen who appears retrained and composed for the most part exhibits fleeting instances of volatile emotion. It is only towards the end that he breaks down, exposing his weak, helpless human side, in a powerful scene in which he echoes the feeling that most of us experience at some point in our life and can instantly identify with; a feeling that is very much the essence of the story being told. The scene in question is a poignant, tearful moment, in which he pours out to his wife: "As a child, I wished and imagined life to be like a film which you could rewind and start over".  Didn't we all?

Score: 8/10

Drive (2011)

When you finally get your hands on a film that has managed to win laurels from all around you, you know your expectations are high. “Drive” was one of the year’s biggest Oscar snubs for unknown reasons, being nominated (deservedly too) in the sole category of “Best Achievement in Sound Editing”. That is just one of the many great qualities of this film though. 

The protagonist (Ryan Gosling) is a silent, brooding tough guy known only as the “Driver” or “kid” as some of them call him. He is a part time mechanic in a garage, a part time stuntman for some action films and also moonlights as a driver on hire for driving getaway cars for robbers/hoods who want to pull off a heist and also have a quick means of escape. Circumstance gets him involved with a cute looking Irene (Carey Mulligan) who has a little kid for her to take care of and a husband (Oscar Isaac) doing time in prison. No points for guessing that there is instant bonding between the Driver and Irene and her kid. The Driver takes care of them for a while…takes them on joyrides, gives company to the kid and the mother once in a while, among other things. But beyond this cliché of an accessory to crime possessing a heart of gold reserved for the cute married woman with a kid there is a lot going on between the driver’s friend and employer, Shannon (Bryan Cranston), and a mobster named Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks) and his partner, a Jewish gangster by the name of Nino (Ron Perlman). The plot thickens when certain events connect the Driver directly with this pair of gangsters and also Irene’s husband Standard who suddenly returns…..

The story is best left for the viewer to unravel but rest assured, this film goes far beyond the plot. Firstly, it serves as a rather intimate character portrait of the protagonist whose roots are unknown, who seems like a rather cold and distant individual, a socially inept loner who exhibits least remorse when it comes to doing something not particularly ethical, yet one who also possesses a heart of gold…for those who deserve it of course. Others get a taste of his ultra-violent side! All of the scenes revolving around the Driver are very well-written and capable of giving us a satisfying picture of this mysterious individual and also manage to catch us by surprise at several instances. Particularly noteworthy is one scene in an elevator (excellent scene, brilliantly acted) and some subtly clever scenes like the one when Irene’s husband Standard (Oscar Isaac) is sharing a light moment when he and Irene met for the first time, with his son and with the driver. The expressions on the faces of both Irene and the Driver are priceless! Or that scene when the Driver and Irene’s son are watching something on TV and the son calls the shark a “bad guy”. “There are no good sharks?”, The Driver asks. Superb moments all!

Moreover, the film excels in almost all technical aspects with flying colours. The sound design and editing as mentioned earlier is top-notch; one of the standout aspects of the film. The cinematography is beautiful;  there are sometimes long slo-mo takes clubbed with a hypnotic background score that give the film a dream-like, meditative quality, oozing oodles of atmosphere. Also well-done is the electro-pop soundtrack and the placement of songs, especially the title piece (“Nightcall”) that sounds like the distinctly 80s synthpop. Some have called the film ‘slow‘ but thanks to Nicolas Winding Refn’s command on the handling, his product is one of the most engrossing films I’ve seen in a long time. It is also refreshing to see that despite this being a film that has heists and car chases, it is made to look more like an art-house picture that slowly establishes itself and gradually builds up the viewer’s mood rather than looking like a quick-cut-edited pop-corn actioner. The only thing that connects this film to the latter category are the somewhat unreal instances where our hero dodges near-fatal situations and magically survives (mostly without a scratch!) near-death experiences like dangerous car stunts and chases, sudden shotgun surprises, lone attacks in foreign territories and stab wounds! The violence is gory (also unrealistic at times), perhaps to please the gorehounds and action film buffs alike!

Now, for the performances. Albert Brooks who is perhaps the best of all the supporting actors; does a marvelous job as the soft-spoken yet crooked gangster Bernie Rose. Ron Perlman, an often overlooked actor is outstanding as the scary looking Jewish mobster Nino. Carey Mulligan looks cute and is a brilliant performer as well. She has a very expressive face and uses it very aptly in some of the film’s best scenes. Your heart goes all out to see her take care of the kid alone and really wish something good would happen to her.

Ryan Gosling exudes coolness with a capital C with uber-confidence in the more restrained scenes of his, where he conveys a lot through his face which shifts between a brooding, intense look to a deadpan stare and then to a goofy smile, especially when he is with Irene or her kid. However, it is during the times when it is required of him to emote or exhibit outbursts that the actor feels a little ill at ease and seems to lack the spontaneity. Therefore the way he delivers some lines or the act that he displays seems a tad forced. This renders his performance somewhat inconsistent and that is where the actor loses points in an otherwise fine job of acting.

Winding Refn has said that the film is a tribute to Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece, “Taxi Driver”. And one can instantly recognize the homage from some situations in the picture and also the overall persona of the protagonist. (And is it just a coincidence that Albert Brooks appears in that film as well as this?) While this film cannot possibly equal the Robert De Niro starrer, it is a splendid work of art on its own merits. A definite must-see and must-own.

Score: 9/10.