{"id":7723,"date":"2010-02-20T23:58:51","date_gmt":"2010-02-21T07:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=7723"},"modified":"2010-02-21T07:20:16","modified_gmt":"2010-02-21T15:20:16","slug":"slovenian-girl-slovenka-damjan-kozole-2009-slovenia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=7723","title":{"rendered":"Slovenian Girl (Slovenka) (Damjan Kozole, 2009): Slovenia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Rowan-George Smith<\/a>. Viewed at the Metro 4, Santa Barbara Film Festival.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In Slovenian Girl<\/em><\/a> (Slovenka), Nina Ivanisin is Aleksandra a.k.a. \u201cSlovenian Girl\u201d, and Damjan Kozole, brilliantly directs this Slovenian film.\u00a0 Nina Ivanisin is an absolute gem.\u00a0 She carries the ninety-minute film effortlessly with such ease and confidence; her honest portrayal of Aleksandra, a 23-year-old English student who resides in Ljubliana, Slovenia, works in prostitution, \u201cthe world\u2019s oldest profession\u201d, and lives the life she so desires.\u00a0 It\u2019s all for money.<\/p>\n

In the film, Aleksandra confidently says, \u201cNobody knows what I do\u201d\u2026her secret life as a prostitute is going pretty well, she manages to equally balance her studies and work, until one of her clients, a German diplomat visiting Slovenia dies of a heart attack while in her company.\u00a0 She cautiously phones for help, takes cash from his wallet, and then bolts from his hotel room. \u00a0As the police search for \u201cSlovenian Girl\u201d for questioning, Aleksandra continues working until two shady pimps; Mile (Dejan Spasic) and Peter (Aljosa Kovacic) locate her first.\u00a0 They force her to agree to work for them, by dangling her by the legs from the 11th<\/sup> floor balcony; this is the most intense scene of the film.\u00a0 It took the crew ten takes to film that scene and Nina Ivanisin did her own stunts.\u00a0 After this violent altercation, Aleksandra is distraught but manages to hide from the men, for the time being.\u00a0 She desperately phones her ex-boyfriend, Gregor (Uros Furst) for help.\u00a0 Ironically he comes to her aid, after he\u2019s been pinning for her from the start of the film. When she is safe, she has sex with Gregor, and then when she is sleeping, Gregor discovers all the condoms in her possession, Aleksandra\u2019s secret is set free.\u00a0 She temporarily returns home to stay with her father, Edo (Peter Musevski), who attempts to resurrect his rock band with his buddies.\u00a0 With a drastic loss of income, Aleksandra finds herself in a bind; she is past due on her mortgage payments and doing poorly in her English studies.\u00a0 As Aleksandra rekindles her relationship with her father, he suspects that she is on serious drugs or has inherited severe depression from him.\u00a0 Desperate for money, Aleksandra goes to see her estranged mother, and little half-brother who are in one scene in the entire film.<\/p>\n

Ivanisin delivers a stellar performance; she\u2019s engaging and has magnificent screen presence.\u00a0 Her subtle acting style is minimal and simplistic, she communicates brilliantly with her eyes that tell us so much.\u00a0 She plays the prostitution scenes with such ease and her demeanor is so carefree.\u00a0 Ivanisin\u2019s display of relaxed alertness makes prostitution look easy to do; she emotionally cuts herself off, and Aleksandra bravely works the job, then leaves.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting to note that Aleksandra is totally prepared, she owns a few mobile phones, carries loads of condoms in her purse, and the message of practicing safe sex is imperative especially in this film. However, it\u2019s incredible how Aleksandra functions alone as a prostitute and keeps her secret for as long as she does.\u00a0 She has no safety net, no protection; she has only herself, and her strong instincts.\u00a0 The risk taker that she is, she puts herself on the line every time she works a job.\u00a0 No one ever knows her whereabouts, or, with whom she\u2019s meeting, she doesn\u2019t confide in her best friend Vesna (Marusa Kink), until it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n

Director Damjan Kozole takes viewers on a bold and fulfilling journey of Aleksandra\u2019s story in English and Slovenian.\u00a0 He masterfully unfolds a story of relevant subject matter and authentically depicts Aleksandra\u2019s pursuit of money.\u00a0 Prostitution can be addictive, Aleksandra\u2019s in it for the money, and is stuck in this profession.\u00a0 The risks and consequences of her actions force her to deal with fear, guilt and loneliness.\u00a0 We all have our secrets, for Aleksandra, her secret, her truth\u2026is now a gift.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Rowan-George Smith. Viewed at the Metro 4, Santa Barbara Film Festival. In Slovenian Girl (Slovenka), Nina Ivanisin is Aleksandra a.k.a. \u201cSlovenian Girl\u201d, and Damjan Kozole, brilliantly directs this Slovenian film.\u00a0 Nina Ivanisin is an absolute gem.\u00a0 She carries the ninety-minute film effortlessly with such ease and confidence; her honest portrayal of Aleksandra, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,131],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","category-santa-barbara-film-festival-2010"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/805"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7723\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}