Ivica Vidović is worth seeking out for his quiet, uncertain outsiders and the care he gives their discomfort. The stylised acting in WR: Mysteries of the Organism shows that mildness was not his only means of holding our attention.
Fi1m perspective
Quiet, soft-spoken and uncomfortable in their surroundings, Ivica Vidović’s men are seldom straightforward heroes. His recurring parts are intellectuals and outsiders, confused or melancholic in comedy as well as drama. He emerged in late-1960s Yugoslav cinema through work with Živojin Pavlović, Antun Vrdoljak and Krsto Papić. Pavlović’s Zaseda (1969) gave him the early defining role of the idealist Ive Vrana. The suburban outsider Glista in Kužiš stari moj (1973) belongs to that familiar line of characters, though Vidović had already found a markedly different way of working with Dušan Makavejev.
In Makavejev’s WR: Mysteries of the Organism (1971), he plays the Soviet skating champion Vladimir Ilyich with a stylisation that contrasts with his usual mildness. The role is also a useful warning against treating the quietness of his other characters as a limit on what he could do. The film mixes interviews and acted episodes, and can become tiresome when it explains too much. Vidović, Milena Dravić and Jagoda Kaloper give us people to care about when the discussion threatens to become all propositions. We felt frustrated by some of the interruptions, because their performances had made us want to stay with the people on screen.
That frustration is not a reason to dismiss the cutting. The restless editing makes WR’s ideas worth following, and Aleksandar Petković’s cinematography gives the acted episodes images that survive the abrupt changes of context. Sustained attachment is difficult, however, and Vidović cannot supply the time with a character that Makavejev keeps taking away. We recommend the film with that caveat: it makes engaging use of its actors, but repeatedly moves on before we have had enough of them.
The intellectual outsider returns in Papić’s Izbavitelj (1976), with Vidović in the lead as Ivan Gajski. Zoran Tadić’s chamber thriller Ritam zločina (1981) gives him another central role, as Ivica. Television was also a substantial part of his work, from Naše malo misto to Naša mala klinika in the 2000s. His Servantes, also called Tonči, in Naše malo misto brought him widespread regional popularity. For another encounter, try Ritam zločina, where the introverted outsider gets a central role.
Biography
Ivica Vidović was a Croatian actor. He graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb in 1963 and began his screen career with a debut in Rana jesen (1962). He appeared in Yugoslav and Croatian films and television until 2011, often in roles as introverted or marginal characters.
To international audiences he is best known for playing Vladimir Ilyich in Dušan Makavejev’s WR: Mysteries of the Organism (1971). Other notable film roles include Zaseda (1969), Kužiš stari moj (1973) — for which he won the Silver Arena at Pula — Izbavitelj (1976) and Fine Dead Girls (2002). On television he played Servantes in the series Naše malo misto (1970) and later appeared in Naša mala klinika (2004–2007). He died in Zagreb on 18 April 2011.
