Even small cinema industries like Croatia's can expect occurrences when two films made roughly at the same time look very much alike. The last such example could be found in Comic Sans, a 2018 film directed by Nevio Marasović, which shares a lot of plot details with the previous Croatian film, The Eight Commissioner, directed by Ivan Salaj. Both films feature a relatively young, upcoming and successful citizen of Zagreb who, faced with an unexpected crisis, is forced to interrupt his good life in the Croatian capital and spend some time on a remote Croatian island.
The protagonist of Comic Sans, played by Janko Popović Volarić, is Alan Despot, a successful copywriter whose career has allowed him a lifestyle most Croatians could only dream of, which includes a relatively luxurious apartment, an expensive cocaine habit and almost any woman he could lay eyes on. But not everything is well in Alan's life, and one of the reasons can be found in his former girlfriend Marina (played by Nataša Janjić). The end of the relationship affected Alan very badly, and, following a disastrous post-breakup encounter, Alan makes a complete mess of himself at an important corporate party. Because of that, he reluctantly accepts his father's proposal – bohemian painter Bruno (played by Zlatko Burić) – to accompany him to the island of Vis, where their old aunt has died and presumably left them some inheritance. Alan's arrival at the place he barely remembers brings another unpleasant surprise in the form of Barbara (played by Inti Sraj), his former Slovenian girlfriend who is about to marry another man.
Comic Sans is far from a carbon copy of The Eight Commissioner. It actually looks more inspired by typical Hollywood "Oscar bait" films, especially those made with a relatively small budget and featuring a specific genre blend of comedy, drama and road movie. Because of that, Comic Sans in many ways looks formulaic with its set of charmingly quirky characters and attempts to check all required marks. One of them is the presence of Slovenian and Serb characters, necessary for the film to have some sort of success in neighbouring countries and proving that the authors are far from the regressive nationalist bigotry that appears to be on the rise in present-day Croatia. Another is the obligatory presence of an LGBT character (in a rather unexpected scene) that should bring some progressive credentials to the authors.
Yet all those efforts fail because Marasović chose a rather unlikeable character for protagonist. Alan, portrayed as a spoiled member of privileged Croatian elite, is simply too dislikable for the audience to empathise with, and Janko Popović Volarić doesn't do anything that could make viewers root for his character. The script, often burdened with failed attempts at humour, doesn't help, and there is also an unpleasant impression of Comic Sans being unfinished. Whether this is due to Marasović's failure to properly end his film or budget constraints is difficult to determine. The overuse of a song by legendary Croatian singer Mišo Kovač is another problem, which could affect even those viewers who happen to be his fans. The only bright spot of this film is Zlatko Burić, the Croatian actor working in Denmark, best known for the sinister role of drug lord Milo in the Pusher trilogy. Burić, who brought a few of his colleagues from Denmark to the set, obviously enjoyed playing a completely different character – a laid-back neo-hippy parent who happens to show more responsibility and maturity compared to his seemingly more successful son. Burić almost succeeds in lifting Comic Sans above mediocrity, and we can only hope that he will appear in more Croatian films in the future.
RATING: 4/10 (+)
(Note: The text in the original version was posted here.)
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