Tears For Sale (3 Stars)

The story is about two sisters, Mala and Ognjenku, who come from a family of professional mourners. These are people, usually women, who are hired to visit a funeral and cry emotionally in order to make it an emotional event. While most commonly practised in far eastern countries, this service is also provided in England by companies such as Rent A Mourner. The story takes place soon after World War One, when most of the men have been killed. The sisters' village only has one old man left who is being shared by the women to give them children. Mala accidentally kills the man, so the sisters are sent to find a new man to replace him. They find two men, wandering performers, a human cannonball and his assistant, that they take back to their village. Unfortunately the sisters have fallen in love with the two men, so they try to kidnap them and take them away again.

This film, while supposedly based on a true story, is told in the style of a fairy tale with lavish but surreal backgrounds. At the time it was the most expensive film ever made in Serbia, but this record has since been broken. The film is highly critically acclaimed, but I found it difficult to enjoy. Maybe the problem is the claim that it's a true story; I found it just too difficult to believe.