Take Me Somewhere Nice

Movie
Original title	Take Me Somewhere Nice
Country of production	Netherlands , Bosnia and Herzegovina
original language	Bosnian , Dutch , English
Publishing year	2019
length	91 minutes
Rod
Director	Ena Sendijarević
script	Ena Sendijarević
production	Amra Baksic Camo , ; Layla Meijman , ; Marieke Mols , ; Iris Otten , ; Sander van Meurs
music	Ella van der Woude
camera	Emo Weemhoff
cut	Lot Rossmark
occupation
	Sara Luna Zorić : Alma; Ernad Prnjavorac : Emir; Lazar Dragojevic : Denis; Alena Dzebo;

Take Me Somewhere Nice is a tragic comedy by Ena Sendijarević , which premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in January 2019 and was released in Dutch cinemas on May 23, 2019.

action

The young Alma goes to Bosnia to visit her seriously ill father who is in hospital. It is said to be the first time that she will see him, because Alma grew up with her mother in the Netherlands after fleeing.

In Bosnia she is staying with her cousin Emir, who is not particularly enthusiastic about this visit. He is annoyed that she and her mother fled Bosnia during the war but never returned. As a result, he refuses to drive her to the remote hospital where her father is dying. Together with his buddy Denis, Emir kidnaps his cousin and explores the city and country of a nation she doesn't really know.

production

Directed by Ena Sendijarević , who has a similar biographical background as her protagonist Alma. She is also from Bosnia and grew up in the Netherlands. Her parents fled Bosnia during the war in the 1990s.

Ella van der Woude composed the film music . The soundtrack album, which includes five pieces of music, was released for download by Pupkin Film Music in May 2020.

The film premiered on January 26, 2019 at the Rotterdam International Film Festival and was released in Dutch cinemas on May 23, 2019. In October 2019 it was shown at the Film Festival Cologne and the Independent FilmFest Osnabrück .

reception

Reviews

The film has so far convinced all Rotten Tomatoes critics . Critics repeatedly noticed borrowings from Elia Suleiman and Jim Jarmusch .

Pat Brown of Slant Magazine writes that the film's scenario is somewhat reminiscent of Jarmusch's Stranger than Paradise and describes Take Me Somewhere Nice as a road trip comedy with a caustic sense of irony. Even if a bitterly ironic tone had been used up until then and alluded to some of the worst aspects of life in the nation, such as the business with water barrels, at the end of the film the film shows a small, allegorical glimmer of hope for the future of Bosnia.

Michael Kohl from Filmdienst says that Ena Sendijarević also tells in the film about how people who have emigrated also move away from their homeland internally and develop a cross-border identity, so to speak, while at the same time the national feeling is revived in the countries themselves. In addition to the different political ideas, the physical tension is also intensifying, Kohl continues: “Behind Emir's silent presence on the trip, an incestuous desire for his cousin is revealed. The situation escalates in a night-time, overtired argument in the car that continues in the forest. The stronger falls on the weaker. ”So you finally find traces of blood in the wonderfully beautiful Bosnian place on the Mediterranean, because even if the war may be long over, subliminal aggression persists.