Febiofest 2016 - Slovak Day - STANKO

Directed by - Rasto Boros (Slovakia)

The first feature by director Rasto Boros is the story of a Slovak named Stanko, from which the film draws its title. From the beginning, we know that he is the typical loser, working in farm land for scraps in Italy. Looking to shake things up in his life, he is given another chance by a local mafia boss who gives him the task of traveling back to his home country and bring him back a girl. His moral ambiguity is shown by the fact that he doesn't trouble himself by asking too many questions about what will happen to the girl once he returns to Italy, but all this changes once he realizes that the girl is little older than a child, and in the process of questioning the assigned task, he is also inspired to re-think the priorities in his life. 

Despite flirting with a sense of humour, particularly in its first part and through the character of Stanko who initially looks like the contemporary counterpart of a slapstick clown, whose flirting with tourists on the Italian beach recalls the slapstick antics of Chaplin's beloved Tramp, the film becomes progressively bleaker as it goes on. Boros also accentuates his film with a sense of realism, through the gritty camerawork and the choice of casting non-actors in his roles. 

The structure of he film is dominated by the road-movie format, and the storyline itself is driven by the bond that develops between the young girl and the titular character, from which moments of tenderness also arise. Most of the events, in fact, take place on the car on which the two make their journey. 

However, despite its best intentions, Stanko seems diluted by a lack of creativity. There is some originality to be found in some sequences, particularly in the moments when Stanko tries to mentor his travel companion in the art of scamming and stealing, which recalls films like Bogdanovich's Paper Moon. But even these moments are over too soon, and overall, the film doesn't seem to be able to sustain its almost hour and a half length mark. This also lessens the impact of the film's dealing with some delicate topics, such as poverty, immigration and even more specifically, crime as an only viable solution or alternative on top of the very real issue of women, specifically from Eastern Europe, tricked into prostitution.