Goran Gocić’s cultural highlights

Goran Gocić has contributed to 30-odd media outlets, including Sight & Sound and the BBC, and to 40-odd collections of essays in a dozen languages. His Notes from the Underground: The Cinema of Emir Kusturica is the most authoritative study about the filmmaker, included in the top five film books of the year by the Observer. Gocić was a reporter for Bloody Foreigners, the award-winning Channel 4 documentary about immigrants. In his native Belgrade he is known for his best-selling book Thai, one of three Serbian novels that won the most national prizes of all time.

 

Book: Jerusalém

This summer, I discovered a unique author and his singular prose by pure chance. He convinced me that Portuguese literature is still alive and kicking even without José Saramago. Gonçalo M. Tavares sucked me into his world of psychiatric cases and over-rational physicians as if I was under the influence of some heavy medication. But that’s what good writers do. He published Jerusalém in 2003; English and Serbian translations both appeared in 2009. The notes I make about my reading are usually as follows: ship the writer to Patmos – terribly wrong – just plain bad – decently mediocre – well done, mate – excellent, my friend – a masterpiece, sir – I wish I wrote that, you bastard. Jerusalém comes into the last category, of totally irrational envy.

Goncalo M. Tavares by Hreinn Gudlaugsson courtesy of Wikicommons

https://dalkeyarchive.store/products/jerusalem

 

Film: All of Us Strangers

The British are notorious for their coolness and detachment. To see such a highly emotional and deeply moving film conjured up by a Briton is nothing short of a revelation. Perhaps I am the victim of prejudice when Queen Victoria or James Bond spring to my mind, rather than the flesh and bone next door – but the same applies to the hero of All of Us Strangers. The film did not receive any grand prizes, but it did make an extensive festival tour, London and Belgrade included, winning 30-odd awards in the process. I’ve voted for it in the FIPRESCI film of the year poll with a shaky hand and teary eye. Hats off to writer-director Andrew Haigh. Rejected by the National Film and Television School as insufficiently talented, he came back with a vengeance to teach the teachers what cinema really is.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21192142/

 

Art: Ce n’est pas une repas

British artist Martin Butler and Italian artist I-Chen Zuffellato use food as their medium. But instead of the usual fare of chicken wings or fish and chips, they employ tons of imagination to wake and shake the senses – from sight to taste, and from smell to touch. No wonder that doors open left and right for them and their gastronomic performances. They produce edible sculptures using transitory materials such as gazpacho and sangria. Butler, a choreographer by trade, and Zuffellato, the master of ceremonies, organise unique, memorable, one-of-a-kind rituals favoured by art-loving gastronomes and flavoured by rare spices. In June 2024, they were invited to Belgrade by the curator Jelena Mišković and Cet ne pas une repas (This is Not a Dinner) came to life. My daughter Maria – herself a performance artist – and I ended up one evening in a restaurant with the right name for the occasion: Joy.

Photo courtesy of Martin Butler

https://www.diplomacyandcommerce.rs/being-an-artist-is-a-job-like-any-other/

 

Socialising: U Zlatého tygra / At the Golden Tiger, Prague

Beer-houses are a phenomenon of Mitteleuropa. I favour them over pubs for a simple reason: since I’m a senior citizen – 62 this spring – I prefer sitting while I’m sipping my beer. At U Zlatého tygra you have to come early for that. They serve the first-rate Czech lager Pilsner Urquell. Forget the canned and bottled exports; wait until you try the full-flavoured real thing straight from a tap in Prague. The waiters are given free beer and get plastered downing pint after pint themselves. But there is another reason why I cherish this place: the Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal was a regular and immortalised it in his novels. The last time I visited Prague was in 2006. My daughter has travelled there this year and I was delighted to learn that U Zlatého tygra is intact and at the full disposal of Generation Z. It still comes with a divine beverage, rude waiters and great atmosphere – quenching the thirst and curiosity of pundits since 1843.

Photo by Kertész Dániel, courtesy of wikicommons

https://www.uzlatehotygra.cz/cs/

 

Musician: John Mayall

The worse off you are, the better you play the blues. If you happen to be poor, old, black or blind, you might get into the right mood. John Mayall was none of the above, but he mysteriously managed to find the perfect keys and minor chords. He was the godfather of British blues in the 1960s. His band had a higher turnover then the Wimpy Bar. The creme of British musicians passed through John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and then moved on to form their own bands – Cream, Fleetwood Mac, Colosseum – or to join others – Free, Canned Heat and The Rolling Stones. Mayall never came anywhere near the stardom of his former protégés. I went to his gig at my favourite London venue The Town and Country Club in Kentish Town. The fact that this was 37 years ago runs contrary to logic: my memory of him jumping all over the stage is vivid. The old hippie passed away on 22 July 2024; he was 90 years of age. A touching eulogy was given by Eric Clapton. Rest in peace, love and music, John. I can’t stop humming  Jenny and Another Kind of Love these days.

Photo by Per Ole Hagen courtesy of Wikicommons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xpsQFe73N4

 

Photo of Goran Gocić by Stefana Savić