1-World Festival of Foreign Films
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"The Marathon Family"
1982
Directed by Slobodan Sijan

Set in Serbia between WWI and WWII, this film is full of social commentary and black humor. The Topalovic family boasts five generations of morticians.  Mirko Topalovic wants to break with tradition and become a filmmaker.   "Sijan has…chronicled the changing climate of a nation of petty-bourgeois businesses which are being revolutionized by new technologies; the era of crematories is on us."  "Hilarious, pitch-black Yugoslavian satire... Sijan's ability to find something funny in the absurdity of evil never falters." ...Kevin Thomas, L.A. Times.  "Not since It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World  have so many soreheads gone after the same payoff ...this is cacaphonous slapstick, vigorous and ingenious." ..David Chute, L.A. Herald Examiner.  With Bogdan Diklic, Danilo Stojkovic, Pavle Vujisic, Mija Aleksic, Mica Tomic and Jelisaveta Sablic. Serbo-Croatian with English subtitles.  96 minutes.