The story of any phenomenon, at least of those from the domain of popular culture, can, in terms of the initial grounding of the argumentation that has yet to follow and be presented, also begin by pointing to specific figures.
In the case of a story about a completely unexpected film phenomenon That’s it for today Marko Đorđević, we can also start from the figures regarding the viewership of this production, and that’s in the context of the cinema distribution of films here, which is slowly declining.
This is what it looks like – after a couple of weeks, the mentioned film reached the very top of the top ratings here, leaving behind the likes of Godzilla x Kong – The New Empire, Ghostbusters – The Ice Menace, Civil war, The first prediction, Immaculate, Monkey Man…
The truth, ZDT here it has the advantage of the home field, but we should also take into account the fact that the viewership of this achievement is increasing week by week, which cannot be attributed only to the effects of local patriotism and an effective promotional and wider media campaign. The weekend behind us almost doubled the number of viewers of this film in cinemas compared to the previous section, and here it is almost a full month after the start of theatrical distribution.
The current total of 41 thousand viewers is worthy of respect. For example, in a much longer period, it was set up and implemented in a completely different way Russian consulbased on the bestseller of the same name by Vuk Drašković, attracted 68,246 viewers in Serbia, which is an interesting benchmark and comparative factor.
In contrast To the Russian consulbut also a good part of the films from the corpus of local cinema hits of one intensity or another, That’s it for today rests on completely different stylistic foundations, and does not point to a work that could be brought into an even more obvious connection with the status of a cinema hit, which it certainly is now.
To simplify: That’s it for today offers viewers a completely different aesthetic, to a good extent consistent with what can be labeled in the global context with the phrase artistic, independent or arthouse film, and in the American market, all the more so when the acting ensemble is packed with well-known, beloved and/or respected actors and names , such films are lagging behind projected cinema hits right from the start.
That’s it for today easy and peaceful soul can be praised for many reasons, but for the purpose of the initial thesis of this text, let’s emphasize the impression that this film enchants the viewers precisely in the aspect of its own emotionality and the skill with which these emotions are transferred into the film language, and now overflow from the plane/screen on viewers who are ready and open-minded enough to first recognize and then receive such gifts.
And indeed – along with all the other dimensions that certainly deserve the most detailed analysis, Đorđević’s feat That’s it for today makes a point, so why not excels precisely in the aspect of that striking and, what is equally important, filmic illusion of strong emotionality on which this nevertheless essentially imaginary story is based. This production subtly and quietly returns the story of today’s narrative film to a welcome reverse – in the direction of the story of the film and as a catalyst of emotions, about something that, at least in its desirable form, pleads to speak primarily about emotions and the way in which we, as viewers, and insignificant civilians, we deal with emotions when they overflow.
If it is My morning laugh (the previous film by Marko Đorđević, which he created together with more or less the same team of collaborators and comrades – there are actors, Filip Đurić and Ivana Vuković, producer Miloš Pušić, director of photography Stefan Milosavljević…) focused on anxiety and the horrors of endless procrastination , and was naturally placed in an almost black-wave winter, That’s it for todayis the cinematic equivalent of the essential seduction and ease of summer, and on its motif-thematic shield it bravely carries what is so easily despised, ridiculed, and even rejected in stronger or gentler bursts of cynicism – the need to be good, the need for closeness, at least according to those to whom we are primarily directed, the need to dignify the struggle with depression and all those swallowed up and unspoken and unaccompanied tears…
Therefore, if in the first ten-fifteen years on this soil we were lucky enough to see a few excellent or at least just interesting films that would be accompanied by the phrase New Serbian Brutalism (say, it would refer to films: Made in Serbia, Life and death of a porn gang, Clip, Serbian film, Miloš Branković…), Maybe That’s it for today already a sufficiently convincing herald and spokesperson of something completely contradictory, and also rooted in some of the cinematic variations of naturalism and naturalism, and what we therefore also need – the New Serbian cinematic tenderness.
The audience has already dominantly demonstrated the conscious need for something like that, as evidenced by the tears at the screenings (the signatory of these lines himself “managed” to cry at least twice during the podcast Filmaholic brought to tears talking about the scope and uniqueness of this film), this is evidenced by the increasingly frequent urge of viewers, well, at first glance, one would say, even the shy ones, that after those special screenings or the recent discussion on the topic ZDT in the Youth Center of Belgrade, to address the authors of this film, to thank them, and even hug them…
Even if he didn’t, and he did, he gave us a reason to talk about a true phenomenon – a completely atypical cinema hit that reached the top of the ratings list from the side and from the counter, For today he owed us so much already by reminding us discreetly, and at the same time loudly, of the transformative power of film, of the power of film to “give birth”, and then arouse in the viewers emotions that are not first-rate and general.
Đorđević’s film, in addition to everything else, bravely rushed into the field in which it was given to, among other things, of course, metaphorically, “fight” with films that fully read their manipulative dimension, all in the desire to evoke tears and sighs viewers (say, this applies to films and recent huge cinema hits Thomas and Sunday), River Island ZDT he steps onto that ground with much less noise and with significantly more refinement, and refinement of the kind that is unacceptably rare in local, let’s call it conditionally, cinematography.
