Regional Competition

Everybody knows that playing is serious business. Director Matjaž Ivanišin knows this too, so he takes us to a strictly male world. We get to see men hitting punching balls at a funfair, clinching each other roughly until the shoulders of the opponent touch the ground, trying to excel at throwing heavy rounds of cheese through the narrow streets of villages, competing at shouting out numbers obtained by adding up their raised fingers, etc. Be it noble sports or tavern hobbies, peaceful leisure activities or amusements infused with barely contained violence, sometimes the games seem incongruous at times and all of them clearly have a touch of archaism about them. Does this mean that the film is just an inventory of manly representations and their ancient roots in these remote corners of the Mediterranean? One could think so, but then the director suddenly appears on screen, visibly tired of trying to make sense of it all, and ready to turn the tables. He then changes tack, gets rid of conventional documentary descriptions, and focuses instead on comedy and its surprises.