Aleksandra is a student from Krško, a small town in Slovenia. She has a plan to conquer the world. Working as a prostitute, her life is heading to where she wants it, but an accidental death has her wrestling with new feelings of fear, loneliness, confusion and responsibility
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A Masterpiece!
There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
It's Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Aleksandra/Sasha is from a small town studying English. She's also working as a prostitute. Her customer has a heart-attack after taking Viagra. She leaves after taking his money and calling the front desk. The man dies. Her friend Vesna is shocked that she bought a flat. Her father reads about the dead man in the newspaper and the "Slovenian Girl" who was with him. The mystery becomes a media sensation and two thugs threaten her to work for them. She escapes but she is facing mounting mortgage payments.The two thugs are scary and that section is thrilling. It's a harrowing escape. One expects the thrills to continue but it turns into something else. Sasha's lies and manipulations continue. She shows herself not solely a victim but she is also constantly being victimized. It's a compelling character. It would be great to have a more definitive ending instead of a fade-to-black. There is something left unsaid and unexplored.
Alexandra is a college student trying to make ends meet for her expensive apartment by becoming a call girl. She is attractive, but has a sullen personality that makes you wonder if she finds anything in her world interesting. And as the film progresses she manipulates others, including her father, through her constant scheming, and lying. Unfortunately she eventually turns a trick with the wrong guy and while she manages to slip away from him, his presence remains throughout the film. Despite not liking Alexandra, I found I wanted her to reform, love her father and escape all that set her on the wrong path. Better than I thought for a low budget eastern European movie.
This film started off with a strong and exciting plot. The tension between Alexandra, her friends and Greg piqued my interest in each character's development, and the horrifically realistic scene with the pimps had me on edge and biting my nails. These were two things that were done especially well. But soon after that, the plot and character development began to degrade, as nothing but minute details occurred from then on - none of which had any substantial effects on Alexandra's character or emotion. Many pressing aspects of the plot were left unfinished in this movie - from the "tumor" idea to her relationship with her mother; to the whole deal with the pimps; to her ambitions after the exam. There is also no real resolution with her father, Vesna or her mother. I felt like the middle and end of this film turned into nothing more than unnecessary scenes of her riding the train back and forth between her home and the city. Not to mention, Alexandra has no true inner desire - she seeks neither love nor a deeper relationship with her family and friends. This idea of living in her nice apartment overlooking a highway being the sole reason she sells herself is rather unsettling, because honestly, she shows little attachment to the place except when she's showing it off to her friends. Perhaps a slightly more compelling ambition would have made me like her character better. Overall, like another reviewer said, this film is very nihilistic. The lack of emotion and character change (besides the balcony scene) leave for a bland, repetitive and static storyline. I feel like if the film had continued its momentum from the first section of the movie, it would have been a gripping and worthwhile film.
Slovenian Girl (original title: Slovenka, alternate title: A Call Girl) will give you many chills, but it's not a suspense. It just presents the facts. It's not always pretty, it never gets dirty, it has its good sides, some bad too... neutral seems to be the theme.You'll see her origins, her work, her life, all in a quiet voice. Drama will not become action, pain will not be torment. However, being used to Hollywood, you can expect to be gripping your chair a bit, because all the trappings are there, just not that pre-chewed scenario that would lead you to jump out of your seat.I can only pull a few negative points: the colors are a bit off, the camera work very simple, and the story a bit sombre. My guess is it's low budget movie that was able to pull off a great performance.If you don't mind reading subtitles, go for it.