THE BEHEADING OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST

Jovan's relatives gather at his parents' house during the Covid-19 pandemic for an extensive celebration of the family's patron saint, according to Serbian-Orthodox tradition. The assembled visitors quickly become swept up in the turbulent family dynamic – repressed emotions, incriminating secrets, an uninvited guest and Jovan's drug consumption make intense confrontations inevitable. Generations collide involuntarily. Rampant ignorance and a lack of consideration nearly drive Jovan to commit self-destructive acts – he can only pray that aliens come and kidnap him, to deliver him from this existence. While he waits, revelations and confessions cause the situation to escalate to a climax. In his feature-film debut THE BEHEADING OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, Siniša Cvetić forges an amalgamation of comedy and ratcheting tension. Luka Broćić's incidental music, which couldn't be more (and simultaneously less!) fitting, rounds out this bordering-on-slapstick study of a family. The sympathetic approach to Jovan and his cousin Anchi paints an immediate, unflinching portrait of an entire generation, one that continually feels misunderstood and shunned, and for whom personal rebellion appears to be the only way out.