Rating: ****Modra is a film that proves once again that you can do big things on a small budget. Ingrid Veninger has made an utterly charming movie that’s funny, beautiful and touching using a kind of cinéma vérité, a couple of very young, inexperienced actors upon which the whole film hinges, and the beautiful backdrop of the titular city.
Modra follows two Toronto teens as they take a week during their summer vacation to go on a trip to Modra, which is a small town in Slovakia. Lina (Hallie Switzer) has family there, and was originally supposed to go with her boyfriend until an ill-timed break-up scuttled those plans. Enter Leca (Alexander Gammal), who randomly calls up Lina for a date to the movies, or something, but ends up making the trek to Modra with her. If this were a Julia Roberts movie you’d probably know where things go from here. Fortunately though, it’s not.
Lina and Leca are wonderfully played because they talk, act and think like real teenagers. Unsure just what exactly Lina’s intentions are, Leca’s reaction to other guys giving Lina attention is to retreat. Lina meanwhile is unsure what to make of Leca’s obvious affection and confusing distance, although over the week they’re in Modra together she begins really caring for him.
Such awkwardness is typical of teenage romance, although it is rarely portrayed on screen in such a way. I enjoyed how Switzer and Gammal were unpolished and seemingly unpractised in their performances. There’s a great line in the beginning were Leca calls Lina and when she explains to him that she’s going to Slovakia, Leca’s reaction is to say, “Cool, they have a good hockey team.” Something about that line just encapsulates the tone of the film: real teens, real reactions. You can practically hear in Leca’s voice how suave he thinks he is when he drops that little piece of Slovak trivia.
The film itself is rather impressively crafted by the sheer fact of how simply it rolls by. There’s no camera trickery, weird angles, or really anything that seems to indicate that something more than natural light was used. It’s part of a whole naturalistic vibe to the film that seems as though sometimes that someone was following these kids along and making a documentary about them. The musical selection, including some local flavour from Bukasovy Masiv of the real life Modra, adds to the genuine essence of the film.
The bottom line is that Modra is just a really cute little movie. It’s immensely satisfying even though the most you can say that happened is that two kids have a nice vacation in the Slovakian countryside. Of course, the film works quite brilliantly as a travelogue for small town Slovakia as well, but really this movie is all about the quiet, sometimes, awkward, sometimes awe-inspiring nature of discovery. Whether that’s discoveries of the heart or discoveries of a previously unknown culture, Modra delivers it all with perfect candour.
It’s quirky, it’s funny, it’s a little inspirational, but most importantly of all, it’s utterly human. Big props once again go to Hallie Switzer and Alexander Gammal for just being so authentic. Whether it was purposefully, or it just came naturally due to lack of experience, these kids were the heart and soul of the movie and brought the story to life. It’s just one of those movies that makes you feel good after seeing it, and that’s even harder to come by then capturing something that resembles reality on the big screen. So on that account, I guess Modra’s doubly a miracle.
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