previously published on Cineuropa
Many “blanks”, metaphorical or not, are shot in the newest feature by Žiga Virc (of Houston, We Have a Problem! fame). There is an ongoing re-enactment of a World War II battle near a small Slovenian town, so lots of blank ammunition and pyrotechnics are involved there. There is also a subplot involving a young couple unable to have children. And there are a lot of empty threats in the conflict between one stubborn local and some foreign investors. So Shooting Blanks serves as a very appropriate title for this comedy formerly known as The Last Hero, which has just premiered at Festival of Slovenian Film.
Our protagonist France (Primož Pirnat) is a middle-aged man-child who dreams of the glory of the Yugoslav Partisans and their heroic resistance against the German occupiers. He never had a chance to prove himself in battle, but he collects all kinds of memorabilia, proudly wears a uniform, drives around the town in an antique jeep, and either visits big battle re-enactments abroad or organises small ones on the edge of town. Now he has a new mission: to drive out the German supermarket chain that wants to build a store on a field where a battle occurred.
Things are not easy on the home front either, as France is stuck between his foul-mouthed father Janez (veteran Bine Matoh), who is the last living Partisan hero in town, and his daughter Vida (Eva Jesenovec) and her boyfriend Toni (Jurij Drevenšek). Indeed, the two generations are locked in a battle of world-views. Toni and Vida are trying (but so far failing) to conceive a baby, while grandpa’s patriarchal comments and crude jokes do not help at all, and France fails to stand up to his father, which drives a wedge between him and his daughter. The sudden arrival of the company representative, a Greek woman called Christina (the always great Angeliki Papoulia), will stir things up further.
The first act of the film, which serves as its exposition, is the most successful one, especially on the comedic level. The jokes sound effortless and are well timed, so they usually land smoothly, and the snappy rhythm in Vladimir Gojun’s editing also helps. The tempo inevitably drops in the middle section and the jokes start feeling a tad forced, as though they’re serving didactic purposes, while, as the film goes on, sex talk starts dominating the comedy. The final section veers towards a domestic drama fuelled by certain family secrets, which stands as something of a tonal contrast with the rest of the movie.
The main trouble with the script written by Virc and Iza Strehar is the way it treats its characters. They are all archetypes, which might work for comedy – and they are all played accordingly by the Slovenian members of the cast – but a certain interplay and chemistry are lacking. The only exception is the character of Christina and the acting approach of Angeliki Papoulia, who can routinely infuse her characters with heartfelt emotion.
Otherwise, Virc has a knack for both mass scenes and comedic twists, which he previously demonstrated in his brilliant short Trieste Is Ours! (2009). Shooting Blanks seems a bit like an attempt to expand it to a feature-length format. The end result is a bit uneven on the level of the dramaturgy and delivery, but it feels visually polished (thanks to Fabris Šulin’s inspired camerawork), sure-handedly directed, and compact and densely packed enough to be generally entertaining while trying to deal with some serious aspects of life.