Against the backdrop of Serbia’s ongoing student protests, which began two years ago, twenty-somethings Lena (Lena Trifunović) and Stefan (Andrija Krivokapić) form a peculiar, even disjointed, pair. The former is an anarchist-aligned student protestor, the latter a self-described “apolitical” paid agitator surrounded otherwise by right-wing loyalist friends. Yet a cobblestone picked up by Lena and then thrown by Stefan during a rally – during which we briefly take the rock’s cinematographic perspective – bonds them in a bout of disquieting intimacy, and they decide to leave Belgrade together, if only for one night.

(El artículo continúa más abajo - Inf. publicitaria)

However, Until the Day Ends is far from a conventional love story in either style or subject. After extensive work as an editor and two feature-length documentaries, Homelands and Taurunum Boy, Jelena Maksimović makes her debut fiction feature with this project written by the director herself, Ivan Salatić and Olga Dimitrijević. The film has made its bow in Venice’s Orizzonti strand, where it stands out visually as one of the most audacious entries.

The fascinatingly frustrating dimension to this movie is that there’s little that’s emotionally satisfying about their night together – it’s muddied by interruptions, conflict and distractions. Yet, this is what makes Until the Day Ends so interesting: its discomfort and restraint make their connection take on a semi-allegorical note while the feature is disguised as a fully narrative work.

Its poetics are not quite Brechtian, but the filmmaker evokes this state of artificial distance between them, and thus between them and the viewer. She also rejects any firm forms of conventional physical intimacy: no kissing or physical touch of a more expressly sexual nature. In this way, Maksimović follows an emerging line of films that embrace the ambiguities of love and care in a way that feels remarkably real.

While the first 30 minutes are used to set up the protest context for the movie, the last hour is focused on this odd connection between Lena and Stefan. Their bond is a tenuous one born of crisis, instinct and impulse: two players from seemingly opposite sides of the picket line, yet ultimately aligned in their desire to find something human amidst chaos and a lack of clarity.

There exists an aggressive reliance on lens flare from DoP Paul Spengemann, yet the visual approach is hard-headed enough in its aesthetic convictions to work. Bodies are streamed through reflections, glass and near-distorted lensing, making even the corporeal aspects feel fractalesque; dramatic coloured lighting forges an oneiric atmosphere around the pair’s escapade. The film’s more explicitly symbolic last images gesture towards a solidarity-orientated future: a handoff from the older generation to the younger. With this combination of approaches, Maksimović carries with her a daring sensibility that invites a multiplicity of readings – even if not all viewers may align themselves with the directorial proposition.

Until the Day Ends is a Serbian-Bulgarian-Slovenian-Montenegrin-German-Croatian co-production by Taurunum Film, co-produced by PREMIERstudio, Staragara, Kelek Film, Meander Film and Dinaridi Film. Its world sales are managed by Heretic.