1970-1990: cinema and rural life in ex-Yugoslav Montenegro
The two big names in Montenegrin cinema from the 1970s to 1990s are Živko Nikolić and Vlatko Gilić. Both born in Montenegro, they later lived in Belgrade. Their films have in common the theme of rural life, between tradition and harsh living conditions, as well as a cinematic treatment made of few words. Nikolić's comedy Čudo neviđeno (Unseen Wonder, 1984) tells the story of a man who makes it his mission to revitalize his small fishing village by connecting it through a tunnel to the sea. In 1987, his excellent filmThe Beauty of Sin
shows a remote and archaic Montenegro, where an unfaithful wife can still be killed by her husband. We discover the naturist beaches of the island of Ada Bojana. As for Vlatko Gilić's film Days of Dreams, it was selected at Cannes in 1980 in the category "Un certain regard". It tells the story of the summer of the shepherdess Jelena, played by the Serbian actress Vladislava Milosavljević, who meets an airplane pilot and begins a game of seduction with him.Foreign films on the Montenegrin coast
The country's main asset is its exceptionally beautiful wilderness, which has appealed to filmmakers from around the world. There are The Drakkars (original title: The Long Ships) directed by Jack Cardiff in 1964, filmed in Budva, Petrovac and Ulcinj, and The Hurricane Comes from Navarone (1978), a British war film by Guy Hamilton, with Harrison Ford. More recently, L'homme qui voulait vivre sa vie
by Éric Lartigau with Romain Duris who, following an unexpected murder, leaves for the Adriatic coast, in the mouths of Kotor.Of note: it was a Montenegrin director, Božidar Bota Nikolić, who discovered Brad Pitt for his 1988 film The Dark Side of the Sun
. His fee at the time was only $1,000 a week! As the shooting was interrupted by the war, the film was not released until 1997. In the James Bond series, there is a sequence in Casino Royale (2006) in Montenegro and even if it was not shot there, it goes without saying that this film has greatly contributed to the development of tourism in the country.2000s, societal changes and the aftermath of war
At the beginning of the 21st century, it is the revival of Montenegrin cinema, within a society whose traditions are changing, while noting the consequences of the war and the dismantling of the former Yugoslavia. Dragan Marinković directed the first local LGBT film, the Serbian-Montenegrin drama Breathe in 2004. It follows the forbidden love trio of Sasa, Stefan and Lana, his sister. In 2013, Draško Đurović's As Pik(Ace of Spades: Bad Destiny) was the first Montenegrin film nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. Set in the post-war 1990s, the plot follows the journey of a former soldier who returns to his hometown in Montenegro after a long prison stay. In 2018, Ivan Salatić's You Have the Night is set around the Bijela shipyard on the Mediterranean Sea. It brings together several generations who lived through the dismantling of the former Yugoslavia. Marija Perović directed Grudi(Breasts) in 2019. The film tells the intersecting story of three friends in their forties who meet again in Nikšić, their childhood town. While one has returned to live there, the other two are settled in Serbia and Croatia. While she hides it from her friends, Ana's cancer brings them together.
