Murina: Film Review
Murina won the Camera d’Or prize – an honour given to first-time filmmakers – at Cannes last year and you can now check out this award-winning film in UK cinemas.
Set on an isolated Croatian island, Murina follows restless teenager Julija (Gracija Filipović), who helps her father’s business by spearfishing murina (moray eels) even though they don’t get along. When an old family friend, a wealthy American businessman named Javier (Cliff Curtis), comes to stay, Julija decides that she’d rather Javier – who had a dalliance with her mother Nela (Danica Curcic) many years ago – be her father.
This is an intriguing and slow-burning study of an unhappy family unit. It explores the fascinating and ever-evolving character dynamics, with a special focus on the flawed and tumultuous father-daughter relationship. So even though not much happens, I was never bored. The relationship between Julija and her father Ante (Leon Lučev) is tense, to begin with, but Javier’s arrival really throws a spanner in the works. He makes Julija realise what her family life could look like and what she wants for her future.
The film is set along the sun-soaked coastline of the Adriatic Sea and Hélène Louvart‘s cinematography is stunning. Although it probably wasn’t director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović‘s intention, it really made me want to go on holiday there! It just seemed so beautiful and tranquil, in complete contrast to the rising tensions within the family.
Filipović is a commanding lead. Julija is a moody, stroppy teenager who is not afraid to have a confrontation or speak her mind. Her father is just as hot-headed and the way they speak to each other is awful! Curcic plays the conflicted mother stuck in the middle and Curtis is the cool, relaxed second father figure who represents a new life of so much promise.
The family situation was interesting but I would have liked a little more to happen towards the end. Other than that little niggle, Murina (produced by Martin Scorsese) is an intriguing slow burner.
Murina is out in cinemas now and available on virtual cinema on 9 May, details at www.modernfilms.com/murina