''Go, Yellow'' () is a 2001

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

directed by

Dražen Žarković Dražen is a Serbo-Croatian masculine given name, derived from Slavic languages, Slavic root ''-drag, drag'' ("dear, beloved"). Notable people with the name include: * Dražen Besek (born 1963), Croatian football player and manager * Dražen Biš ...

. It was Žarković's debut feature film, after having directed several award-winning documentary and short films. He set out to create an unpretentious, easy-to-watch film that would be popular with the cinemagoers, but it was ultimately poorly received at the Croatian box office and was met with mixed reviews from the critics.

Plot

Ivek (

Slavko Brankov Slavko Brankov ( sr-Cyrl, Славко Бранков; 19 May 1951 – 8 August 2006) was a Croatian film, theatre and television actor of Serb descent. Career He graduated at the Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art in 1976. In 1971, he started his ...

) and Kruno (

Žarko Potočnjak Žarko Potočnjak (3 February 1946 – 21 October 2021) was a Croatian theatre, television and film actor. Potočnjak graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Art, University of Zagreb, Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art in 1972. Upon graduation he w ...

) are best friends, both passionate supporters of a suburban

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

football club. When a ''

nouveau riche ; ), new rich, or new money (in contrast to old money; ) is a social class of the rich whose wealth has been acquired within their own generation, rather than by familial inheritance. These people previously had belonged to a lower social cla ...

'' businessman Čabraja (

Goran Grgić Goran Grgić (born 17 November 1965) is a Croatian theatre, television and film actor. Grgić graduated from the Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art in 1990. Upon graduation he was hired as a regular cast member at the '' Gavella'' theatre in Zagreb ...

) enters the club's managing board with ambitious plans, and soon becomes the club's president, the two friends are divided. While Kruno is enthusiastic over the club's newly found success, Ivek is distrustful towards Čabraja and does not approve of his shady methods. Their friendship becomes increasingly strained...

Production

''Go, Yellow'' was originally intended as a two-part TV feature. It was shot on standard

16 mm film 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 mm and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It ...

and later transferred to 35 mm film in order to be shown at film festivals. The screenplay, written by Pavo Marinković, was based on an idea by the two leading actors,

and

. The filming started on 6 June 2000 and was scheduled to last until 20 July. Football scenes were shot in the stadium of

NK Rudeš Nogometni Klub Rudeš (), commonly referred to as NK Rudeš, is a Croatian football club founded in 1957 in Zagreb's neighbourhood of Rudeš. The club competes in Prva NL. History Being a lower league club through most of its history, Rudeš ...

, a local Zagreb football club. There are no

wide shot In photography, filmmaking and video production, a wide shot (sometimes referred to as a full shot or long shot) is a shot (filmmaking), shot that typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some rel ...

s of the stadium in the film, as the budget did not allow that many

background actor A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera, or ballet production who appears in a nonspeaking or nonsinging (silent) capacity, usually in the background (for example, in an audience or busy street ...

s. Instead, multiple shots were used with the same group of extras appearing as crowd in the different parts of the stadium.

Reception

The reactions to ''Go, Yellow'' were varied. At the extreme ends of the scale, ''

Vjesnik ''Vjesnik'' () was a Croatian state-owned daily newspaper published in Zagreb. Originally established in 1940 as a wartime illegal publication of the Communist Party of Croatia, it later built and maintained a reputation as Croatia's newspaper ...

s columnist Branko Vukšić likened the film to ''

My Sweet Little Village ''My Sweet Little Village'' () is a 1985 Czechoslovak film directed by Jiří Menzel. In 1987 it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Plot The film's main storyline follows the life of Otík, a young man with menta ...

'', while Ivan Starčević, a TV critic writing for ''

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

'', called it "hopelessly bad". Croatian writer, columnist and film critic

Jurica Pavičić Jurica Pavičić (born 2 November 1965 in Split) is a writer, columnist and film critic. Pavičić's screenplay for ''Witnesses'' (''Svjedoci''), Vinko Brešan's 2003 film, won the Golden Arena for Best Screenplay in the 2003 Pula Film Festiv ...

gave the film a moderately favorable review. He described it as "easy to watch" and "exceptionally entertaining at times", while being "lightly and stylishly directed". In particular, Pavičić praised the acting and football cinematography. However, he also described the film as "dramaturgically unbalanced", suffering from a "simplified story about the Croatian new capitalism". ''Go, Yellow'' competed as one of six films screened at the 48th

Pula Film Festival Pula Film Festival () is an annual Croatian film festival, established in 1954. It is held in a Roman amphitheater known as the Pula Arena. Pula Film Festival is the oldest Croatian film festival and is usually held in the summer, in July or Aug ...

in 2001, but it did not win any awards, and ranked last in the viewers' choice poll. The film was not successful at the Croatian box office either, having sold 2,414 tickets in total.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0300919 2001 films Association football films 2000s Croatian-language films Films shot in Croatia Films set in Zagreb Croatian comedy-drama films 2001 directorial debut films Films scored by Mate Matišić 2001 comedy-drama films