‘Safe Place’ Review: One Brother Fights For the Other’s Life in a Shattering Croatian Debut

variety.com:

Guy Lodge Film CriticAbout halfway through “Safe Place,” a film already not given to taking it easy on viewers’ emotions, the meek, honest delivery of a single word — “Sorry” — shatters the heart irreparably into a million small shards.

It comes from Damir (Goran Marković), a quiet, bearish but child-eyed man who has just attempted to take his own life. His stunned, protective brother Bruno (Juraj Lerotić) won’t hear of any such apologies, but still that plaintive “sorry” hangs between them, perhaps standing in for several unexplained factors from the past, perhaps covering further devastations to come.

Every small word and gesture counts for a lot in Croatian multihyphenate Lerotić’s sparse, still, tender-as-a-bruise debut feature: Any bigger ones might throw a severely delicate situation off-balance.

Ordinarily, one would advise a first-time writer-director not to further burden themselves with a leading onscreen role in their freshman effort, least of all if they’re not a seasoned actor themselves.