Who tf is Dua? All I know is Dula Peep 😭Maybe it’s festival fatigue, but I’ve been finding it harder to connect with a certain kind of Eastern European misery driven social realism lately. The issues being presented are obviously important, and I have no particular problem with films addressing police brutality, sexual harassment, or violence against women. Still, sometimes these subjects feel like familiar festival film devices designed to provoke anger and sympathy. I occasionally catch myself wondering whether that affects how fairly I judge these films.There’s also another familiar coming of age story here, with a young girl rushing into adulthood, learning to protect herself, and eventually finding the courage to fight back. This time, that journey is mixed with the political turmoil and wartime themes of Kosovo, which are practically a festival regular at this point.I thought the two sides were reasonably balanced, and Pinea Matoshi gives a strong debut performance. She’s easily one of my favorite parts of the film. However, the transition between the coming of age drama and the political conflict sometimes felt almost as if I were watching two different films stitched together.Maybe this is simply part of how my taste has been changing over the years. I’m starting to separate the importance of a film’s subject matter from how well the film itself actually works? A story can deserve to be heard while its execution still leaves me unconvinced. I haven’t completely figured out where I stand on this yet, but I guess that’s part of watching more films.
