Review: What Iva Recorded – What Iva Recorded October 21, 2003 (2005)

Director: Tomislav Radic | 92 minutes | drama | Actors: Anja Sovagovic-Despot, Ivo Gregurevic, Boris Svrtan, Masha Mati Prodan, Barbara Prpic, Karl Menrad, Adam Koncic

What is strong about “What Iva Recorded” is that Iva is an observer when necessary, but that her own self also comes to the fore in the camerawork, so to speak. She occasionally comments viciously on things, as befits a fifteen-year-old adolescent, but she persists in filming so consistently that she manages to actually ‘catch’ the people she films, because they no longer realize that the camera. turns. Of course it could also be that people have the tendency to tell their story. So it is credible that Iva can (usually) continue filming, despite some protests here and there. At certain moments she really has to capitulate, but she (and the real filmmaker) has found nice solutions for that. This form is reminiscent of the found footage principle that has become more and more popular in recent years. Good examples of strong films in this genre are “The Blair Witch Project” (1999), “Rec” (2007) and “Cloverfield” (2008). These were all horrible stories where it is given that some things ended up on amateur images, whether or not by chance, and was found later. Also “Little Sister” (1995) made clever use of the principle of a film that was shot entirely on inferior film material, only there, as in “What Iva Recorded”, there is no question of a horror story and “found” material.

This film is mainly a story about a girl who is an adolescent and who sees herself surrounded by adults who seem hysterical. As such, the film is also a mirror to the adults among us, who get to see that these people are basically quite normal and that Iva is kind of right. On the other hand, we do see that we are dealing with people from the Balkans. These are less “reasonable” than other Europeans, their temperament sometimes plays tricks on them. Everyone plays natural, which gives the film the feeling of a documentary, another advantage in this case. Still, this is not a perfect movie. And why not? Because the beautiful, cinematic, supporting means such as light, sound and music are occasionally missing. From time to time the tension subsides a bit and you get the feeling that the experiment has lasted long enough. In addition to strengths such as originality and the need for creativity, this genre also has disadvantages. There is no music and the picture quality is poor. Yet you get used to this faster than you think and that is good to know for anyone who is also thinking of making a film with their own digital camera. Note: the quality of the cameras used here is still slightly above that of consumer models. Then you will know. And if you really intend to make such a film, add a little more excitement, use some crazy effects or make it shorter by 15 minutes.