Minnesota to publish a book on radical Serbian filmmaker Dušan Makavejev

Lorraine Mortimer is a social science lecturer from Melbourne (La Trobe University), and she has written a critical assessment of the films of Makavejev, Terror and Joy: The Films of Dušan Makavejev. Amazingly, this is the first book-length critical study of this key Serbian filmmaker. The book spans his career from 1965 to 1994.

Man Is Not a Bird (1965) is an amazing film, his first feature, and the film "blends actuality with fiction in a manner so unselfconscious as to seem almost natural …” according to International Film Guide.

WR: Mysteries of an Organism (1971) is an offbeat, counter-cultural classic. Inspired by the writings and life of Austrian psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, the WR in the title, Makavejev describes it as "a black comedy, political circus, a fantasy on the fascism and communism of human bodies, the political life of human genitals, a proclamation of the pornographic essence of any system of authority and power over others...If you watch for more than five minutes, you become my accomplice." It’s interesting to note that Tuli Kupferberg, legendary beat poet and band leader of the 1960s group The FUGS, has a role in the film.

Sweet Movie (1974) helped establish Makavejev as “one of cinema's most controversial, original and exciting directors,” according to Facets Multimedia in Chicago. This is one hard-to-find movie, since it was banned in several countries, and helped get Makavejev exiled from Serbia for close to 15 years. Facets has several Makavejev films in their video collection, among which is an early experimental film called Innocence Unprotected (1968). This film is described by Facets as a “cinematic collage” that is “a funny and daring (in both content and form) mix of a wide variety of film footage--including documentary, narrative, agitprop, and various other bits and pieces of found footage.”

Any Makavejev film is going to be interesting to watch, especially the early ones. He did make an attempt at doing a Hollywood film. In Australia, he directed The Coca Cola Kid (1985), starring Eric Roberts and Greta Scacchi. That was a pretty entertaining film, his stab at doing a romantic comedy, but it ultimately failed at the box office.

Mortimer’s book is a groundbreaking look at seven of Makavejev’s films, and she puts his films in historical context with political upheavals such as World War II, the breakup of Yugoslavia, and the fall of communism. True to the spirit of Makavejev, Morimer takes what the publisher calls “a radically interdisciplinary approach” in her critical assessment of Makavejev’s work. Complete with 25 b/w photos, this should be one cool book.

For more information about Makavejev, along with an extensive interview with the director and lots more information, visit this web site http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/00/11/makavejev.html