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Reviewed by Elliot V. Kotekl
(from the 2008 Palm Springs International Film Festival)

Director: Milcho Manchevski
Starring: Borce Nacev, Vesna Stanojevska, Sabina Ajrula-Tozija, Gerasim Pasoski

A family is catapulted into consciousness when a domestic spat leads the young doctor, Lazar Perkov, to speed his car through slippery streets, somersaulting toward trouble and resulting in a near-fatal accident during which Perkov found himself traveling toward the proverbial light. Spared by rescue workers, he begins his privileged physician life in the shadow (#1) of his socialite mother, herself a respected doctor.

The period in which Shadows is set finds Perkov’s life being lived without his wife and son. Perkov’s wife seems to remain on permanent vacation from familial responsibilities, and her empty telephone conversations with Perkov cast shadows (#2) over their entire relationship.

While Perkov claims his scars from the accident are limited to occasional headaches and a predisposition to misplace things, Borce Nacev, the actor portraying the young doctor, integrates neither of these traits into his role. A declaration of his love of water early in the film is also never explored. It is these shadows (#3) that make the least sense in this long-awaited outing from Manchevski, of whom expectations have been high since 1994′s award-laden masterpiece Before the Rain marked the director as the best ever to hail from Macedonia. Instead, what Perkov experiences are visions – ghosts – who walk his world, living and dying each day, and disappearing into and out of the shadows (#4) while they search for someone to help them find their peace. That Perkov can see dead people is not the secret of the film as it was for M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense; it is, instead, the catalyst for Perkov’s awakening from a young physician in Pleasantville to an active protagonist who relishes his feeling of alive-ness and his passions for the beautifully troubled Menka, superbly played by the stunning Stanojeska, who not only flirts with Perkov but riddles him with threats and seductions.

Perkov is summoned by an old Aegean woman to “return what’s not yours,” but since he has not stolen anything per se, nor created any moral or emotional angst from which he must dig himself out, the audience is left unsure as to why the emasculated Perkov was selected as this story’s savior. Some of the fault lies with the actor Nacev, who, despite having a character who is blocked in by women in control, never seems to sufficiently struggle with his situation. And, while the ride seems to request that the viewer concoct labyrinths of depth to characters who may each have been shunned by the prevailing churches of their days (a dead man whose brother had hammered nails into his feet to stop him from walking again, the old Aegean woman, and a suicide victim), the characters’ worlds and worries are never revealed with any sense of satisfaction.

The most skillful seduction in Shadows is that of cinematographer Fabio Cianchetti. Having worked with Bernardo Bertolucci, Roberto Benigni and Abel Ferrara, Cianchetti’s palette sets the mood of the movie and, combined with Manchevski’s skill in subtly shifting tones, keeps you mesmerized while you wait for the revelations that, unfortunately, never really show themselves.