Happy Birthday, Dušan Makavejev! Born today in 1932, this Serbian author, screenwriter and film director was famous for his groundbreaking films of Yugoslav cinema in the late 1960s and early 1970s—many of which belong to the Black Wave.
The Black Wave is a blanket term for a Yugoslav film movement of the 1960s and early 1970s.
The directors of these films (most notably Makevjev) are known for their non-traditional approach to film making, their dark humor and their critical examination of the Yugoslav society at the time.
Today, several of the films are considered classics of world cinema and were released as part of influential collections such as Criterion Collection in the United States.
Makevjev was born in Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (now Serbia).
Years later, Makavejev began making short films during the 1950s. This was just after he studied psychology at Belgrade University.
Makevjev also later received a degree in social psychology from the university and afterwards served in the military.
From 1957-1964, Makavejev split his activities between film criticism and filmmaking.
He then went on to become active in several film societies and festivals while studying direction at the Academy for Radio, Television, and Film.
However, Makavejev ran afoul of censors in the late 1950s with two short films. Because of this, Makavejev's reputation eventually spread throughout Europe.
Makavejev also continued making shorts and documentaries for both Zagreb Film and Avala Studios until the early 1960s. His interest in documentaries can still be see in his later fictional features.
In 1964, Makavejev married Yugoslavian producer, composer and assistant director Bojana Marijan. She later worked under these titles for her husband's films. Makavejev and Marijan would remain married until her husband's death.
Also during the 1960s, Makevjev published two books of selected articles. These were Poljubac za drugaricu parolu (A Kiss for a Friend's Password) (1960) and 24 sličice u sekundi (24 Frames per Second) (1965).
Makavejev's first of three feature films was the 1965 Yugoslav black and white comedy drama romance art house film 'Čovek nije tica ('Man Is Not a Bird'). It starred Serbian-Yugoslav film, television and theatre actress icon of the "black wave" period in film, Milena Dravić.
Makevjev's second of three feature films was the 1967 Yugoslav black and white comedy drama romance film 'Ljubavni slučaj ili tragedija službenice P.T.T' ('Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator'). It starred Serbian Jewish actress, writer, painter and icon of the "black wave" period in film Eva Ras.
The third of three feature films was the 1968 Yugoslav black and white/Eastmancolor documentary comedy drama film 'Nevinost bez zastite' ('Innocence Unprotected'). All three films later won Makevjev international acclaim.
Of the three, 'Innocence Unprotected' won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury. This occurred at the 18th Berlin International Film Festival the same year of its release.
In 1970, Makavejev was a member of the jury at the 20th Berlin International Film Festival.
The following year, Makevjev wrote, produced, and directed the film of which he is best known. This was the 1971 Yugoslavian/West German documentary/drama film 'W.R., Misterije organizma.' ('W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism').
A sexual encounter between Yugoslav beautician Milena (Milena Dravić) and champion Russian skater Vladimir Ilyich (Ivica Vidović) demonstrates the theories of Austrian doctor of medicine and psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich (1897–1957).
The film explores the relationship between communist politics and sexuality, as well as presenting the controversial life and work of Reich. The film's narrative structure is unconventional, intermixing fictional and documentary elements.
This also includes Reich's theories of revolution that developed from sexual liberation. This eventually indicted socialist totalitarianism and the puritanical sexual mindset of the West.
What does the energy harnessed through orgasm have to do with the state of communist Yugoslavia circa 1971? Only Makavejev has the answers (or the questions).
His surreal documentary-fiction collision begins as an investigation into the life and work of the controversial psychologist and philosopher Reich.
Afterwards, the film then explodes into a free-form narrative of a beautiful young Slavic girl’s sexual liberation.
The film features an appearance by American actor, writer, singer, and Warhol Superstar Jackie Curtis. Curtis' being in the film highlighted Reich's theories of gender and sexuality.
The film also features American counterculture poet, author, singer, cartoonist, pacifist anarchist, publisher, and co-founder of the American band The Fugs Tuli Kupferberg. Stalking Manhattan, he poses as a goose stepping, toy rifle-masturbating U.S. Soldier.
'W.R.' also intercuts documentary footage and clips from other films — notably the 1946 Soviet black and white Stalinist propaganda drama film 'Klyatva' ('The Vow') — with an imaginative and satirical narrative about a highly political Yugoslav woman who seduces a visiting Soviet celebrity ice skater.
Despite different settings, characters and time periods, the varying elements produce a single story of human sexuality and revolution through a montage effect.
Milena violates her proletarian convictions (and rejects the sexual advances of a worker) by pursuing the Joseph Stalin-like celebrity ice skater — Vladimir Ilyich (Lenin's first and middle names) — who represents both class oppression and corruption from the West into communist beliefs.
However, Milena succeeds, with difficulty, in sexual consummation. But V.I. is unable to reconcile his inner conflicts and ends the encounter by decapitating her offscreen with the blade of an ice skate. Even afterwards, her head continues to speak.
Distraught, V.I. sings a Russian song after the murder: "François Villon's Prayer" by Soviet and Russian poet, writer, musician, novelist, and singer-songwriter of Georgian-Armenian ancestry Bulat Okudzhava.
Upon release, 'W.R.' was notably banned in Makevjev's homeland due to its sexual and political content. Nonetheless, the art-house smash is both whimsical and bold in its blending of politics and sexuality.
Unfortunately, the political scandal surrounding Makavejev's film was symptomatic of an increasingly oppressive political climate in Yugoslavia that effectively ended the director's domestic career.
This resulted in his leaving Yugoslavia to live and work abroad in Europe and North America.
Fortunately for Makevjev, 'W.R.' won acclaim from critics at the 24th Cannes Film Festival in May of that same year.
However, due to the state ban, the film was shown only in a few selected audiences in Yugoslavia for the next several years.
After initial screenings, both in and out of Yugoslavia, 'W.R.' was banned in Makevjev's country for the next sixteen years.
As for Reich, his science was condemned by the FDA and his books were burned by the U.S. government.
Reich had passed from heart failure in the U.S. Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania on November 3, 1957. He was 60.
Makavejev was subsequently indicted on criminal charges of "derision" towards "the state, its agencies, and representatives" after he made intemperate remarks to a West German newspaper about the ban. His exile from his home country lasted until the end of the regime.
Following the furor over 'W.R.', Makavejev moved to Paris, France where he essentially lived in self-imposed exile. Afterwards, he could not find work for three years.
Afterwards, Makevjev directed the 1974 French/Canadian/West German avant-garde surrealist comedy-drama mystery film 'Sweet Movie'. This was the first feature work that the director produced entirely outside of Yugoslavia (the film was made in Canada).
'Sweet Movie' was an explicit depiction of sex together with its bold treatment of the more taboo dimensions of sexuality reduced the size of the film's audience (i.e. it was largely confined to the art house context) and also resulted in the film's being censored in several countries.
After a seven-year hiatus in feature film production, Makavejev released the comparatively more conventional 1981 Swedish/British black comedy drama film 'Montenegro'.
Makevjev's next feature, the 1985 Australian romantic comedy drama film 'The Coca-Cola Kid'.
The film was based on short stories by Australian writer Frank Moorhouse and featured performances by American actor Eric Roberts and Italian-Australian actress Greta Scacchi. 'The Coca-Cola Kid' is arguably Makevjev's most accessible picture.
In July 1991, Makavejev was a member of the jury at the 17th Moscow International Film Festival.
In 1993, Makvejev wrote and appeared in a half-hour televised lecture in Great Britain for the Channel 4 British talk programme Opinions.
On the episode, Makavejev spoke of himself as a citizen of the world but "of the leftovers of Yugoslavia too".
He cites French film director Jacques Tourneur’s ('I Walked with a Zombie', 'Out of the Past') 1942 American black and white horror fantasy/mystery film 'Cat People' as one of the rare films in the history of the cinema that mention Serbs.
Makevjev said that they are "a people from an obscure region who were haunted by evil; when hurt they turn into ferocious cats, like panthers, and killed those whom they thought to be the source of hurt of rejection".
He also commented on the division of Bosnia on ethnic lines: "Creators of nationalist myths, both Serbs and Croats, came from the same mountainous region that was probably the source of this Hollywood story.
Before the armed conflict, these people were whipping up nationalist fever and indoctrination until conflict became inevitable and both nations were trapped in a bloody embrace...How long will it take for an ethnically "clean" state for every single person who miraculously stays alive?
A state for each family, a state for the father in case he is a Croat, a state for the mother in case she is a Muslim, a state for the daughter in case she is a Yugoslav, a state for the son in case he is a Serb, a specific flag for the dog, a currency for the cat."
In the late 2000s, Makevjev appeared as one of the narrators in the fifty-two-minute 2007 Serbian documentary video film 'Zabranjeni bez zabrane' ('Banned Without Being Banned').
The documentary gives profound insight into the history and the nature of Yugoslav film censorship through its investigation of the country's distinctive political-cultural mechanisms for unofficially banning politically controversial films. It contains original interviews with key filmmakers from the communist era.
Makavejev's films, known for scenes of nudity and explicit sex, often centered on the sexual liberation of a female character. "You discover that there is nothing as funny, as crazy, as dangerous, as exciting and as problematic as sex," he once said.
American film critic and author Jonathan Rosenbaum speaks of Makavejev's method of 'W.R.' as materials in collision; he combines documentary, fiction, found footage, direct narration and patriotic music in ways startling and puzzling. The movie is about whatever impression you leave it with.
According to American journalist, editor, and author of both fiction and nonfiction Annalee Newitz, they say: "W.R. may be the only avant-garde slapstick communist documentary sex romp ever made. That alone makes it a must see."
Many of Makevjev's films contain experimental elements and were considered controversial for their eroticism and sharp criticism of Eastern European politics.
The most prominent counterculture filmmaker extraordinaire in new Yugoslav, Makavejev's cinema is internationally recognized today for his passionate, daring films that blend fiction with reality, and drama with humor.
Makevjev had been active from 1965–1996.
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