'Everything That's Wrong With You' Review: Slovenian Two-Hander
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- 'Everything That's Wrong With You' premiered in competition at the Sarajevo Film Festival, marking writer-director Urša Menart's sophomore feature after her 2018 debut 'My Last Year as a Loser.'
- Anuša Kodelja and Klara Kuk star as Maruša and Alja — strangers whose friendship blooms when the grieving, Daria-esque Maruša takes a bus (with her late mother's longhaired dachshund) to Alja's German beach town apartment over New Year's.
- The film pivots on Alja, a wannabe influencer who wryly broadcasts her mental health struggles online, finding in the grungy, no-fucks-given Maruša 'perhaps [her] first ever bestie' — only for their 'black-pink yin-and-yang' bond to fray into codependence as Maruša repeatedly delays her departure.
- Cinematographer Roy Van Egmond shoots the offseason coastal setting in 'desaturated pearl-blue tones,' while Variety frames the film as a 'Slovenian riff on female friendship indies like Frances Ha' grounded by the leads' 'naturalistic charm.'
- The reviewer praises Kodelja and Kuk's 'sweet-and-sour chemistry' but notes that the duo's 'climactic fallout unfolds just as expected,' suggesting Menart's script builds its characters more sharply than its resolution.
Why it matters: Menart, established by her 2018 debut as a chronicler of 'zillennial blues,' positions this Sarajevo competition entry as a 'Slovenian riff on female friendship indies like Frances Ha' — using the festival circuit to potentially translate a modest regional premise into international cachet on the strength of its leads' chemistry.
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