Zivanovic`s ride into the sunset, 21 February 2003
Author: dima-12 from Belgrade, Serbia
RVZA is the final film in Zivanovic`s opus. His demise began after the political prosecution of his UZROK SMRTI NE POMINJATI. Afterwards he made two exploitation pictures that were extremely bankable due to their folk music appeal and partly funded by certain Yugoslav factories that were located in regions where these features were filmed.
RVZA is the third film in that mould and certainly the weakest. From the craftsmanshiop point of view, RVZA looks better than NAIVKO, when it comes to pacing and editing but Juan Ferro`s coloring patterns reached the low in this film.
The story follows romantic life of country girl Andjelija who tries to pursue a career in folk music. She is desperately in love with local poet and pipe player. Her evil mother, the owner of local motel engages her to a low key redneck waiter and cruel folk music managers try to sexually abuse her...
This essentially dark story is done as a comedy like most of the Communist films that depict life in the Serbian countryside.
If RVZA wasn`t made as a comedy, it would have been a poignant ethic fable in the Paul Schrader vein. But as it is, it is a broad Zivanovic flop.
RVZA is Zivanovic`s last picture.

In the mountains of Montenegro people have lived by strict and Draconian laws for centuries, almost untouched by modern civilization. However, a young couple are going to seek their fortune on the more liberal coast and there they find jobs in the nudist colony. Hundreds of naked bodies and atmosphere of joie d'vivre make the husband and wife question their rigid way of life.

An unbearable stench makes quite wide confusion among the residents of Belgrade. The microbiologist Pavle can not remember immediately where he smelled it, but recalls the event he witnessed as a child and the smell of a burning human. A visit to the crematorium gives him the assurance: The high number of suicides in the city has meant that the ovens are in continuous operation and will probably stay that way - because the stench is slowly making other people commit suicide, too.