Montenegrin-born Danish actress, writer and director Marijana Janković has just made her directorial feature debut with Home [+lee también:
tráiler
ficha de la película], competing in IFFR’s Big Screen Competition. Loosely based on her own experiences, it is a strong, universal immigrant drama led by a powerhouse performance from Dejan Čukić.

Čukić, a Danish-based actor of Serbian-Montenegrin origin, who debuted in cult film In China They Eat Dogs (1999) and won the Bodil Award for Best Actor for All In [+lee también:
tráiler
ficha de la película] (2018), plays Marko, the pater familias in the mountains of Montenegro in 1991, when it was still a part of Yugoslavia. The country is in a bad economic crisis and on the path to its bloody dissolution. Red Star Belgrade is on its way to win the European Champions Cup. This is how we meet Marko’s two preadolescent sons, Miloš and Ivan; watching a game on TV, wearing Yugoslav national jerseys, as Marko returns home to them, his wife Vera (Nada Šargin), his mother, and six-year-old daughter Maja (Tara Čubrilo).

Money is hard to come by for the farming family, with Marko also working on a construction site without getting paid for four months. And when cousin Lazar (Zlatko Burić) arrives from Copenhagen in his Mercedes, he easily convinces Marko to join him in Denmark. Marko’s own sister Sanja (Dubravka Drakić) lives there and can host a part of the family; so after a tearful argument, he and Vera take Maja along and leave the sons with their grandma. This doesn’t go down well with Miloš, who won’t speak to his father for a long time.

Marko and Vera first get cleaning jobs, while Maja enrolls in school and is, as it often happens in such cases, the one who learns the language first. She takes on the role of the interpreter and cultural guide as her parents each get married for papers, which will lead to some trouble with Vera’s fake husband Ejnar (Jesper Christensen). 

Janković creates a relatable, and at times, truly moving story of the immigrant experience. We don’t get to see Copenhagen as the beautiful, stately city from postcards - they live in Nørrebro, a working class area in transformation, getting increasingly populated by foreigners. Money problems and distance from their home and sons threaten to tear Marko and Vera apart, and his stubborn Montenegrin sense of pride certainly doesn’t help, wearing off Sanja’s patience.

Besides the director, actors and second-generation co-writer Babak Vakili, the crew includes another immigrant; DoP Manuel Alberto Claro, best known for his collaborations with Lars von Trier, whose vibrant camera work is a key contribution to the immersive quality of the film. In addition to the period-appropriate warm colours and strong contrasts of the picture, Claro inventively captures raw emotional close-ups, where Čukić in particular stands with an all-out but precise and nuanced performance. Šargin’s quiet presence provides a welcome balance, while charismatic stars such as Burić, Nikola Kojo, Tryne Dyrholm and Claes Bang add a touch of class and lighten up the screen during their scenes.

Although it’s not exactly eye-catching, Home is indeed the right and all-encompassing title for this story that Janković tells with the directness and sensitivity of lived experience.

The film was produced by Denmark’s Nordisk Film Production A/S and TrustNordisk has the international rights.