Playing Men

Everybody knows that playing is a serious matter. Director Matjaž Ivanišin is confident about that, and he has chosen to take us to a strictly male world. We get to see men striking punching balls at a funfair, clinching at each other roughly until the shoulders of their opponents touch the ground, trying to excel at throwing heavy rounds of cheese through the narrow streets of villages, competing at screaming the numbers obtained by adding their raised fingers, etc.

Either sports deemed noble or tavern hobbies, peaceful leisure activities or amusements infused with barely contained violence, and although incongruous at times, all these games clearly have a touch of archaism about them. Does this mean that the film is just an inventory of manly representations and their ancient roots in these remote corners of the Mediterranean? One could think so, if the director didn’t suddenly appear on screen, visibly tired of trying to make sense of it all, and ready to turn the tables. Then he changes the pace of the film, gets rid of conventional documentary descriptions, and focuses instead on comedy and its surprises. Also, he describes what seems to be the regional making of an homo politicus through games. As an historic example, the famous match of national treasure Goran Ivanišević is being patiently related.