This magical breath of fresh air is a beautiful dark comedy that explores obsession and possessiveness when confronted with deprivation and illusion, not to mention imminent death if unfortunate enough to draw the short stick (you'll see). Establishing a fairy-tale vibe from the beginning, Tears immerses the viewer in an imaginary Serbia in which men have become a rare sight due to the many wars that have taken their lives. Small villages strictly inhabited by women cherish the last of their men, no matter how old and sick they may be. When Ognjenka (Sonja Kolacaric) accidentally kills her town's last male entity, she keeps herself and her sister Boginja (Katarina Radivojevic) from being burnt at the stake by promising to bring back another man for the village. The film follows the sisters' journey through a man-deprived Serbia as their illusions are destroyed, innocence shattered and their lives are changed forever. More enlivening than the previous Serbian films I have seen, the dark nature of the depraved villagers is balanced-out by the wacky and absurd portrayal of the men found along the way, the masculine obsession made laughable by the limited selection available. Incidentally, a world where entire villages throw themselves at your feet simply because you are a man is more scary than it sounds. Filmed in a dream-like sepia aesthetic, the film aptly conveys the birth of desire through absence, the women wanting what is not available, most of them not knowing what to do if they were with one anyway. Original, creative and delightfully twisted, Tears for Sale uniquely re-writes the battle of the sexes with outrageous success.
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