The Uncle

Yugoslavia, late 1980s. Parents and son are hastily making the final preparations for Christmas Eve dinner. Their beloved uncle from Germany will be parking his Mercedes in front of the house any moment now and everything must be ready. But are things really as they seem? Croatian directors Andrija Mardesic and David Kapac cleverly balance on the edge of farce and oppressive thriller while ingeniously toying with narrative structure. The atmosphere of the film, set almost entirely in a single location, is unsettling in a way reminiscent of Haneke, heightened by a chilling performance from popular Serbian actor Miki Manojlovic as the uncle.

Family celebrations are always stressful. From preparing the food for days, to getting the tree that never seems to be right, to decorating it in a different way every year, only for it to turn up always the same freaky kitsch… Christmas is actually a holiday for which everybody, from the media and marketing, to the Church and the tradition, forces us to do something in order to feel better. Instead, everybody ends up fat, angry, frustrated and in conflict with the others, so everybody cannot wait for the whole thing to be over. Christmas actually represents the greatest subliminal attack to the subconsciousness where form takes over substance.

Directors Andrija Mardesic and David Kapac, from an interview with Cineuropa