Uncle (2022)

A few moments in "Uncle" could have been edited with more precision—though it’s hard to call the directing inconsistent. On the contrary—it's all quite deliberate, even using specific framing to make the viewer feel uneasy. It captures the pathology of this culture perfectly—making it far more conceptually striking than, say, those Jordan Peele gimmicks that local and global hipsters obsess over. Plus, considering this is his first feature, he avoids the typical trap most directors fall into—obsessing over their own trauma—and instead casts a much wider net. Kudos.

Back to "Snow White"...

Ashley Grant66 said:Did that actually happen at the end, or was it just her imagination for symbolic effect?
Are those people partying just random neighbors? What's the point of that scene?

I'd say it actually happened.
My take? We're seeing her happiness when people eagerly accept whatever she puts on the table.

northerncrane4 said:I suppose a few moments in "Uncle" could have been edited just a bit more carefully—perhaps—but then again, you really can't call the direction inconsistent; quite the opposite, actually! Everything feels very meticulously planned, even the framing seems designed specifically to create this sense of visual discomfort. It captures the pathology of this culture so effectively, too—honestly, it’s much more conceptually striking than, say, those Peel's antics that local and international hipsters seem to obsess over lately. And well, it is the director's first feature film, after all, and unlike many of his peers, he isn't just rehashing his own personal trauma—he's casting a much wider net, so kudos to him.

Well, maybe the guys have an uncle just like him, so maybe it *is* personal trauma 😉. I went to see the film at its final festival screening, and I really appreciated how clean the direction was—it doesn't just wander aimlessly with the camera, which is such a common pitfall in debut films. I still have quite a few dramatic doubts, I guess, but I think I'll watch it again when it hits theaters to see if those feelings persist. One thing that didn't quite click for me, though, was why only the uncle (Manojlović) has a cell phone while everyone else seems to be without one...🤷

Nancy Fox89 said:I didn't quite get why only uncle (Manojlović) has a phone while the others don't...🤷

😕 Because their uncle won't let them have one.

The cool thing about this movie is that once you’re done, there are so many ways to read into the story. You'll find yourself asking why they did this, or why they didn't go that route instead. I won't get into the specifics because I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, but I can definitely say this is a solid piece of work. I’d recommend it to anyone without worrying that people will judge me for actually enjoying an American film. 🍿

northerncrane4 said:😕 Well, it's because their uncle won't let them have them.

That just doesn't seem quite logical—since they actually don't have them at all. Not a single person in the family. I mean, if they did have them—which would be the expected thing, since we all have them—they could actually react, call someone, or report the violence they're enduring.☕ ... But, I suppose I'll watch the movie one more time just to double-check everything I might have missed during my first viewing.

Nancy Fox89 said:I couldn't figure out why only uncle (Manojlović) has a phone while everyone else is totally offline.🤷

I don't get what there is to be confused about. 🤔

Nancy Fox89 said:That just doesn't make sense because they're the ones doing it. Not at all. They don't have anyone. Not a single person in the family. If they did—which is what you'd expect since everyone else has someone—they could actually do something about it, call someone, or report the abuse they're going through.☕ I'm gonna watch it again just to catch anything I might have missed the first time around.

Wait, seriously? That’s really how you're looking at it? If I start arguing, I’m worried I might actually ruin the movie for everyone else. But honestly, it’s pretty obvious and logical why they don't have cell phones. northerncrane4 already explained that perfectly.😉

Nancy Fox89 said:It doesn't make sense—they don't even have them. No one in the family. If they did—which would be expected since everyone does—they could actually react, call someone, or report the abuse they're enduring.☕ ... Still, I'll watch the movie again just to catch anything I might have missed the first time.

A cell phone isn't a kidney. It seems to me you didn't catch much during your first viewing. 😵

I watched Uncle too, and honestly, I think my expectations were just way too high. It’s a clever concept—taking those classic, "wholesome" Americana tropes and twisting them into something dark—but the whole vibe felt forced. It felt like the movie was trying way too hard to be uncomfortable, almost like the plot was just a vehicle to make everything feel weird and quirky.

A bit more detail:

It falls into that annoying trope where characters just... don't act sane? They pass up every logical exit just to play along with an old psychopath because he made some sort of "promise." I get it—it’s probably meant to be this allegorical satire about how we're all trapped by the past, stuck with the illusion of choice, and passing down generational trauma. But as a psychological thriller? It didn't really land for me. The family felt like unfinished sketches living in some parallel universe—even when Uncle isn't around, they lack any real depth. They just seem totally helpless (ha!) and exist solely to react to the situation they're shoved into.
Some parts were left totally unexplained, while others were overplayed and repetitive. Plus, the music was way too loud—constantly cranking up the tension whenever it felt like things weren't being "dark" enough.
Let me put it this way: I love the idea and the core concept, but the execution just didn't win me over.

This movie really sticks with you. It leaves you with something to chew on, some real emotion that lingers for a few minutes after the credits roll. For an American indie film, that’s already a massive win.🍿

Ashley Grant66 said:But as far as being a psychological thriller with actual depth to the characters goes—it didn't quite land for me.

I agree—the movie would have hit harder if you could feel even a shred of empathy for any of the characters. That said, I wouldn't call it a directorial oversight; it feels more like an intentional stylistic choice by the creator. So the film is still solid, and my desire for something different is just my own subjective issue. Still, I maintain that the sequences following the daughter's kidnapping (without spoiling too much—the mother in the tub realizing what she accidentally did) and the aftermath of Heimlich should have been better paced.

By the way, that 80s iconography is so spot-on that the directors themselves look like they walked straight out of a Lolek and Bolek cartoon. 😛

And once again, our local reality is going to punch us right in the gut. Nobody is actually going to show up to see this, even though it’s genuinely good, entertaining, and breaks the mold. It stars Mickey and Bogdan.

Then, in a few months, you’ll see the same crowd popping up online asking why American cinema is failing. When you point out that there was actually a solid movie in theaters recently—one you could easily track down at a film archive or something similar—they'll just tell you they're waiting for it to air on ABC.

From there, the inevitable follows: people claiming ABC is garbage because it's corporate junk. It’s just an endless cycle of nothing but whining.

Look, I’m not a filmmaker, but if I were dealing with an audience like ours, I’d be playing much more aggressively.

There are two films that are absolute essentials if you consider yourself someone who actually loves, respects, or even just follows cinema, yet combined they barely pull in 15,500 viewers. I won't get into the weeds about their quality or whether they "succeeded" in some arbitrary sense. One is an American production that crushed it wherever it played (a real safe place), and the other is a European piece (triangle of sadness) that is a massive hit everywhere else. You really should go see them. But no, apparently, you don't have to.

Uncle should have stayed a short film. Those first 25 minutes? Absolutely brilliant—tense, detailed, and perfectly atmospheric. But once that initial tension evaporates, everything else feels like wasted potential. Don't get me wrong, the acting is solid—though I found everyone leaning far too hard into those over-the-top reactions; the screaming and fighting felt a bit forced for my taste—and the music, cinematography, and production design are top-tier. We’re talking Hollywood-level visuals and arguably the best sound design in recent American cinema.

It’s a textbook lesson for aspiring directors: without a script, you don't have a movie, no matter how much polish you slap on it. Here, they nailed the first quarter of the screenplay, but after that, it’s just the same tired themes repeated without any actual insight.

The result is a mess that fails to coalesce into a functional film. It becomes repetitive, lukewarm, and tries way too hard to be "provocative." There’s zero depth to the characters because their motivations and psychological profiles are handled so sloppily—there’s no organic movement, none of that natural flow that makes a movie actually work.

That’s what happens when a bunch of well-read film geeks try to play director: technically flawless, but underneath the cellophane, there’s absolutely nothing there.

northerncrane4 said:I agree—the movie would actually work if you could feel even a shred of empathy for any of these characters. That said, I wouldn't call it a directorial blunder; it feels more like a deliberate stylistic choice by the author.

Sorry, but that’s a pretty destructive way to look at it—claiming the film fails because of that one issue. If that were the case, they should have directed it like Park Chan-wook, which they clearly don't have the talent for. They overestimated themselves—not that I'm particularly surprised.

Sure, the central theme is great: we're all just ungrateful, mediocre American sheep wallowing in these filthy, dying family rituals, toxic relationships, broken marriages, and pathetic little lives—all while waiting for some uncle to fix everything for us, only to tear him down collectively because, individually, we're cowards. It's a solid concept, but it's too megalomaniacal. That's where they lost the film. You need to ground it—give us a character first, then the concept—but fine, whatever.

That said, Roščićka has some excellent moments. Her diction is just... inconsistent. It's weird. In certain parts of the film, her accent shifts away from how she sounded at the start.

I actually really liked how they kept bringing up that Christmas dinner or lunch. It kind of reminded me of how we do things here in the States during the holidays—everything has to be absolutely perfect on Christmas Day, everyone’s expected to be in high spirits, and the whole vibe is just constant socializing. Plus, most of the conversations end up being the exact same recycled stories that get told over and over again every single year. 🍿

@Germain: I’m pretty much signing off on all of this.
It just feels a bit off when the kid shows up with her uncle—I mean, I love Kay, she's great—but that whole vibe didn't sit right with me. Especially when Roschicka starts screaming "Let go of my child!" 😕 It felt totally disproportionate to everything else. Like, they weren't actually being threatened with an axe or anything, and there wasn't any real terror or distress about her peeing on the floor. I get it, "it's just a movie," but for me, it just didn't land.

Anyway, you guys have to check this out!

Winter Tales: Christmas with Uncle at the Movie Theater

Starting with the question, "Which movies would Uncle watch with his family after Christmas dinner?" Mardesic and Kapac put together a really eclectic list of films where the winter scenery isn't just some backdrop to escape reality.
"Films that don't carry the official 'Christmas movie' label, but are set in a wintry atmosphere, can evoke emotions that aren't usually tied to the holiday escapism found in mainstream cinema," the authors explain. "That's why our selection includes movies that evoke the spirit of Christmas in various ways without being traditional holiday flicks."

Poster 🤣 😍

I could really sense they were completely burnt out. It felt like they'd been dealing with Uncle coming over for ages, and they were so mentally drained from the constant harassment that they didn't even have the strength left to physically stop him. Once the baby arrived, their behavior shifted big time. They actually started considering taking physical action to end his life. ☕

Grace Sanders24 said:I could really sense how completely drained they were. It felt like Uncle had been hovering over them for forever, and they’d finally hit a breaking point where they didn't even have the energy left to physically fight him off because they were just mentally shattered from all the harassment. Once little Doe entered the picture, their whole vibe shifted. They actually started contemplating taking his life by force. ☕

I totally get what you mean.
But honestly, I'm stumped on what actually triggered all of this. Did Uncle just pick them at random to work through some deep-seated trauma of his own? Or did Mom do something wrong that he's now getting back at them for? The movie isn't bad, but it leaves you hanging without an explanation. Does anyone else have a clue what's going on?

placidsailor18 said:She's realized all of this.
But the motive remains unclear—did Uncle just pick them at random to work through his own baggage? Or did Mom mess up somehow, leaving him looking for payback?

Why does any of that matter?

northerncrane4 said:Why does that even matter?

Because honestly, the movie just feels unfinished to me.

placidsailor18 said:The movie just feels unfinished to me.

You're just stressing over trivialities.