The loss and loneliness of a man in the 21st century, who is forced to find his way, alienated, maybe even bitter, is allegorically depicted in a supermarket that, after closing, becomes not a home, but a space or a platform for life.
Contemporary, minimalist but global, new film No less Bečanović it was named exactly "Supermarket" as a synonym for the most diverse phenomena and phenomena of today's consumerist society, which awakens the urge to survive, dehumanizes, marginalizes and hurries...
"Supermarket" premiered in Montenegro on Tuesday evening at the Budo Tomović Cultural and Information Center in front of a large audience in a large hall that followed the film closely and with interest.
The premiere was organized within the program "CINEMA WORKS AGAIN: Contemporary Montenegrin Film 2017-2023", which the Film Center of Montenegro and the Cinematheque of Montenegro are implementing in partnership with digitized cinemas and cultural centers.
Starting today, the film will be shown in Pljevlja, Bijelo Polje, Mojkovac and Bar, and after that in Danilovgrad, Kotor, Herceg Novi and Nikšić.
Distribution in Podgorica Cineplex also starts today.
Although Montenegrin, the film "Supermarket" directed by Nemanja Bečanović is actually global, in terms of its subject matter and issues, manner, style and dialogue, and represents both a portrait and a critique of the modern world, whose epicenter of movement has been trade for years.
"The plot of the film follows a homeless man, who has been living undisturbed in a supermarket for a year. During the day, it is hidden in the ventilation system where it sleeps, and in the evening, when the supermarket closes, it comes out to enjoy the benefits of the offer. His peace is disturbed one night by Robert, a former supermarket security worker, who after his dismissal also decided to "move into" the store, and since he worked in the surveillance sector, he knew how to turn off the alarm and surveillance cameras. A homeless man cautiously accepts a new acquaintance and thus solves the problem of loneliness", it was announced earlier in the description of the film.
The director added that Supermarket is actually a film about the Robinson Crusoe of our time, whose deserted island is a supermarket, which becomes a space for the analysis of absurdities, but also of interpersonal relations in our capitalist society.
“Where to make a film about Robinson Crusoe in the 21st century? The biggest irony of all is that it's not a desert island, but a supermarket in the heart of the city," Bečanović said earlier.
After the premiere in Podgorica and the first meeting of the film with the local audience, director Bečanović pointed out that he hopes that the viewers liked the film, but also that it left enough room for reflection.
"The film is here to ask us what we have become in this system. In a consumerist society, people have become a product and we are almost indistinguishable from the things we use," he said.
When reading the novel "Robinson Crusoe", explains Bečanović, it is clear to us that the work was written from the perspective of a man who thinks about the world through capitalism.
“In today's world, capitalism is omnipresent, reaching in one way or another to every desert island on this planet. One way to deconstruct the system is to enter the real heart of the problem, the consumerist paradise, i.e. the supermarket where we are all a Dano desert island, in the busiest place in the city," explained Bečanović.
They interpret the roles in "Supermarket". Bojan Žirović, Branimir Bane Popovic i Ana Pejovic thanks to which the atmosphere reaches its climax.
It seems that the plot itself is situated between reality and some kind of apocalypse or post-apocalypse that we live in, but the film speaks very subtly about anything, leaving the audience to know its theme.
"Supermarket" was filmed a few months before the start of the corona virus pandemic, which brought a certain connotation to the film.
"The pandemic has shown what a mini-apocalypse looks like. It will start and end in supermarkets. That situation when consumerism turns into the only tool for survival seems incredibly bizarre and says a lot about how fragile our civilization actually is," believes Bečanović.
The film "Supermarket" had its world premiere in November of the previous year, at the A category festival - "Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival" in Estonia. The film was shown in the main competition program in the selection "Rebels with a Cause".
One of the selectors of the festival Javier Garcia Puerto announced the film as a dark and comical story about a 21st-century Robinson Crusoe whose deserted island is a large shopping mall, dealing with absurdity and interpersonal relationships in a modern, consumerist society.
The film "Supermarket" is an exclusively Montenegrin production - it was filmed in co-production between VHS Production and Radio Television of Montenegro, and it was supported by the Ministry of Culture and Media and the Film Center of Montenegro.
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