By Franziska Schuster. The father is having a bad dream, the son is not sleeping at all. Mihajlo Jevtić's film SNARE DRUM tells about a generational conflict which doesn't really exist. Since he can't find a job 30-year-old Nikola still lives in his father Fedja's apartment. Fedja earns his living as a drummer on funerals. The son is a drummer, too, but without much enthusiasm, as he has long given up on hoping for his band to break through. His father's accusations just bounce right off him – there is no alternative anyway.

The situation is not an unusual one: Young adults in Serbia are often forced due to a lack of income to crash at their parents, which naturally makes for a conflict-laden scenario. So in the narrative of the film the father's expectations always clash with his son's lack of perspective. But the old man is a victim of self-denial – his life, too, is only a pale shade of what one might imagine an artistic career might be like. This insight, which he tries to suppress during his waking hours with the help of alcohol, comes to haunt him in his dreams, where his missed chances become painfully obvious to him. “The stage is over there“ – the podium for his success has drifted unreachably far away from him a long time ago. And so awake as well as in sleep he takes refuge in the world of his illusions, that tell him it's all the son's fault. Although they actually are so very similar – they drink and drum, have nothing but bad luck with the ladies and lack any perspective. It's just the times, that have changed.

With some sarcastic undertones Jevtić tells a story that is bitter because it feels real. With his stylish editing of shots and sounds the music develops into a major narrative instrument, actively commenting the action on screen. In combination with the convincing performances of the actors the film is able to convey a parable on society both funny and tragic. The young filmmaker manages nothing less but to sum up the sentiment of a whole generation.

Links

• SNARE DRUM (SRB 2008. Mihajlo Jevtic)
• A typical love/hate relationship – An interview with Mihajlo Jevtic
• Between Abrasiveness and Melancholy – Franziska Schuster about the Serbian film market