Just Between Us (Rajko Grlic, 2010): Croatia

Reviewed by Laura Horstmann. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

A humorous yet vulgar interaction between brothers at their father’s death bed sets the tone for this black comedy. Just Between Us, is a story about 4 people who have cheated on and been cheated upon by each other so many times that it’s become routine. The main action of the film is set off when Nikola and his wife are trying to conceive a baby and his brotherly drunkenly donates his sperm. The rest is history as the relationships, double lives, and secrets intertwine.

What should be depressing and almost tragic becomes amusing and you find yourself siding with these awful people who do nothing but hurt each other. It’s a comedic look at the bizarre complexity of relationships and people who are messed up to the point where they can only love each other. The absurd levels of scheming and planning they go to for sex come off as hilariously desperate when in a normal situation it would be heartbreaking.

The director took the romantic comedy into a strange world with this movie and while you want to hate these characters, you can’t wait to see what they’ll do next. Even after their scheming and adultery they end up right back at the beginning with only each other. The whole movie has a sense of meaningless which I believe to be a commentary on the current state of romantic relationships.