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"This film may very well scare the wits of all the law-abiding, self-respecting viewers, wherever they are." – Screen Daily
Winner of the Special Orizzonti Award for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival, this slow-burn drama from Croatian writer/director Ognjen Sviličić builds from a topical premise to a potent, unnerving climax.
In the lower middle-class suburbs of Zagreb, ordinary parents Ivo and Maia have their quiet existence shattered when their 17-year-old son, Tomica, suffers a violent street beating at the hands of another teenager. As the boy's condition worsens, his parents come up against the cruel indifference of bureaucracy – and must consider the idea of crossing established lines in their desire for justice.
Told with articulate restraint, Sviličić's film observes without judgement as his characters go from passivity to frustration and anger, presenting a disturbing scenario sure to resonate with the fears of any parent.
"Shows an impressive rigor in the economy and austerity with which it observes the rippling after effects of senseless violence in a world of bureaucratic indifference." – Hollywood Reporter