Grbavica

GRBAVICA — *** — Mirjana Karanovic, Luna Mijovic; with English subtitles (Eastern European dialects); not rated, probable R (profanity, violence, brief drugs, vulgarity, brief nudity).

There's really nothing new about the way "Grbavica" looks at the mother-daughter dynamic. But it's still refreshing to see any film that does so with such honesty and realism.

It's also interesting to see a film that deals with war without showing much violence. It's more about the aftermath of bloodshed and how families deal with resulting losses.

This import does touch on the Balkan War and follows Esma (Mirjana Karanovic), a widow who's now struggling to make ends meet.

Esma works as a waitress at a fairly seedy nightclub, and she's doing everything she can to recover from her loss. She's also trying to be a good mother to Sara (Luna Mijovic), her precocious pre-teen daughter.

However, Sara's at an age where she thinks she knows better than her mother, and the two are constantly butting heads.

There isn't much more to screenwriter/director Jasmila Zbanic's plot than that — though select sequences also show Esma at a war widow support group.

Instead, the film allows these characters to develop in a believable, less-than-glamorous fashion. (By way of contrast, Hollywood would probably cast someone like Susan Sarandon or Julia Roberts as Esma and give her character a love interest.)

Again, it's really not a new approach. But Karanovic and Mijovic's believable performances make it watchable and relatable. The film will probably strike a chord with mothers or daughters who have similar relationship problems.

"Grbavica" is not rated but would probably receive an R for strong sexual language (profanity, slang and other suggestive talk), brief violence (target shootings and sexual violence), brief drug use and brief female nudity. Running time: 95 minutes.

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E-mail: jeff@desnews.com