MOJA VESNA

Australia/Slovenia, 2022, 80 minutes, Colour.

Loti Kovacic, Mackenzie Mazur, Gregor Bakovic, Claudia Karvan, Flora Feldman.

Directed by Sara Kern.

The unusual title is actually a combination of the names of two sisters. The names are Slovenian. And this brief film is a coproduction between Australia and Slovenia.

Filmed in the Melbourne suburbs, the film also uses the older box screen framework, making the film look something of a home movie – and, in a way, it is.

At the centre of the film is Moja, aged ten, but telling performance from the very young Loti Kovavic, not always saying a great deal, but very expressive with her body language, expressive and inexpressive facial responses. While the other characters are well drawn, it is Moja who keeps our attention.

The family is living in Melbourne having migrated from Slovenia. At the outset, the mother of the family has died and each of the family members, father and older sister, react in their different ways, the father somewhat in denial, a touch remote, the sister, Vesna (Mackenzie Mazur), pregnant, sad at her mother’s death, no explanation of who the father of the child is, clashing with her father, bonding with her sister, but moments of reckless activity and driving, going into the ocean, which seems something of a death wish.

So, it is left to Moja to try to keep the family together even when she does not quite understand what is going on. She is concerned about her sister, trying to buy baby clothes, inspecting a pram. The three have meals together, sometimes happy, sometimes tense.

There is an unexpected sequence, some moments of calm, when Vesna recites an emotional poem that she has composed for Moja, something of a pause in the drama, glimpses of happiness and hope.

A local mother, Miranda, and energetic daughter, Danger, played by Claudia Karvan and Flora Feldman, befriend Moja, the two girls deciding to become friends and enjoying playing together. Finally, with all the difficulties and the inner grief at her mother’s death, relating to her father, her sister giving birth and seeming carefree, Moja finally finds a mother figure in the kindly neighbour.

It is a slice of life film, a slice of migrant life in Australia, a slice of sad life, but held together for audience response by the presence and performance of Loti Kovacic.

1. A brief film? Slice of life? Migrant life in an Australian city?
2. The Melbourne suburb and settings, ordinary, flat, streets, shops, homes, the coast, the ocean? Musical score?
3. The title, the two sisters? The focus on Moja, aged 10?
4. The situation, the death of the mother, the different responses from the family? The father, migrant, difficulties in language, accepting his wife’s death, his relationship to his daughter, her pregnancy, tension, happiness at meals? His relationship with Moja, her age, greater reliance on her?
5. Moja, aged 10, language, quiet, body language, facial expressions, sometimes impassive? With her father? With her sister, concern about the pregnancy, the clothes, the pram? The encounter with Miranda, friendly, meeting Danger, their playing together, friendship? At home, her family support, strength?
6. Vesna, age, the death of her mother, pregnant, no explanation of a father, her behaviour, sometimes careless, in her room, driving, going to the water, going to the ocean, seeming touch of the death wish? With her father, sometimes cheerful at meals? With her sister, the importance of the sequence with her reciting the poem, a gift to her sister?
7. Miranda, the kindly neighbour, the visit, talking, Moja going out with her, the shop, the pram? The friendship with Danger, playing together?
8. The increasing effect on Moja, responsibilities, yet her young age?
9. The birth of the baby, Vesna leaving the hospital, again carefree, the father holding the baby?
10. The overall effect on Mojo, going to see Miranda, Miranda and her comfort, substitute mother?
11. The impact of this slice of life, migrant life, family difficulties, griefs, responsibilities?