It is good to finally watch a Croatian movie with realistic, believable characters and situations. The location, for once, was well used. The (mostly) calm, vast sea is in contrast with the tempest inside characters and them being confined to a lone home on the island. The similarity of the barren Kornati islands are in contrast to complex personas, all different from each other. Having small parts of the plot underwater was amazing, underwater shots are certainly underutilized in cinema.
The three main characters are well fleshed out, effectively using simple dialogues and body language. Majority of conversations like these certainly do happen in Dalmatia. Curcic, who is a Serbian-born Danish actress, had no accent at all, which was great. Lots of details ensured the movie feels authentic, for example it was crucial for the main character to know to swim well. Gracija and the director already made a short movie set by/in the sea, so it's not a surprise.
I only have few small things to complain about. The first one is the nudity (which I have nothing against), which felt forced with the camera angle that was used. In the interview I read, the director said she did it on purpose because there are certain expectations on how women should film and portray other women, and she wanted to break those stereotypes. In the end, her personal frustrations translated to few distracting scenes.
The second, more important, is the scene before the last, where the director went close to cheap sensationalism. I thought it wasn't necessary. I am fine with the last shot and how the movie "resolved", but a little bit less because of the scene beforehand.
For those who are not Croatians, the crosses on the island were made to commemorate the tragic deaths of young firefighters who died in an accident there more than a decade ago.
P. S. The director said she went "gentle" on Ante and that fathers are "much worse in reality in Croatia". What a sick and untruthful comment from a typical self-loathing modern feminist educated in the West.
Regardless of your or the director's ideology, the movie is absolutely worthy of your attention.
