Small Things

Dogs bark and the wind whistles on an island near Split, where three adult siblings have gathered in the house of their ailing father to tie up the practical matter of an inheritance, in Croatian director Zvonimir Juric’s gloomy and atmospheric Small Things, which had its international premiere at the Sarajevo Film Festival in the Narrative Feature Film competition. It’s the fourth feature from Juric, a respected though not especially prolific, downbeat chronicler of Croatian realities. It is based on a short story by Croatian writer Jurica Pavicic, a genesis that, as its title suggests, can be felt in its slim, snapshot-like scope, and a restrained subtlety that means much is left unsaid in its portrait of a family forced to confront buried tensions in the lead-up to a death. But great inner expanses can be revealed by the most modest of gestures, and a moving payoff comes in the last scenes for those attuned to emotional undercurrents and details, though commercial prospects may be limited by the stripped-back simplicity and lack of propulsive narrative spectacle.

An ageing, and ailing, father (Izudin Bajrovic) knows he doesn’t have much time left, and although he is quietly and deeply attached to the land and olive grove where he has lived by the sea, he readily concedes that it is time to allow his children to sell it and divide the proceeds, even though faceless corporate interests are hovering, and his neighbour’s ability to reach his vineyard by crossing over his land may no longer be guaranteed. More pressing than the impersonal changes that may be wrought by external interests are the old faultlines in the family that the inheritance shakes up, and a promise that could see the money unequally shared out.

Two sisters, the recently separated and struggling Anica (Marija Skaricic), and no-nonsense Irena (Ivana Roscic), who is also grieving a loss, have travelled to the island for the weekend with Irena’s two children. With the weather wintry, and their taciturn, unwell father in no mood to play host, preferring to smoke pot in bed for his aching joints, it is not long before restlessness and frayed nerves take hold between those cooped up in the small house. Static framing by D.O.P. Marko Brdar and a muted palate of browns and yellows effectively creating a claustrophobic sense of stuckness.

The other sibling, Ivan, has been living on the island. His depressed psychological state and the frailty of his weight loss soon becomes the family’s focus, as he refuses to join family meals,  and they discuss whether to try to corral him into psychiatric care in Split. Ivan is played by Juraj Lerotic, the director of acclaimed 2022 Croatian arthouse drama Safe Place, another film about mental health issues within a family. He is an intense, magnetic presence, despite his minimal dialogue. Like his father, Ivan is not one to hash out his intentions or motivations, but a gradual dignity takes hold that points us beyond the realm of the pragmatic and the material concerns that so preoccupy Anica and Irena.

Tense interactions between various family members reveal a thorny tangle of misunderstandings, distances and buried resentments, as assumptions over who is really most in need of help in the family are drawn into question. This remains more a brief portrait in time than a narrative with many twists and turns. But occasionally less can be more. As night closes in and bad weather cuts the island off, the spectre of mortality looms nearer in the shadowy light of bedtable lamps, and the groundwork for enough atmosphere and emotional force is laid for the final scenes to hit home with an understated and sensitive profundity.

Director: Zvonimir Juric
Writers: Zvonimir Juric, Jurica Pavicic
Producers: Ankica Juric Tilic, Dragan Juric
Cast: Marija Skaricic, Ivana Roscic, Izudin Bajrovic, Juraj Lerotic
Cinematographer: Marko Brdar
Editor: Ana Stulina
Sound: Julij Zornik, Ognjen Popi?
Production companies: Kinorama (Croatia), Forum Ljubljana (Slovenia), Atalanta (Serbia)
Sales: Duplicato Media
Venue: Sarajevo (Narrative Feature Film competition)
In Croatian
80 minutes