“From the beginning of the film, we know that eight passengers will die in a terrible accident. But we don’t know who will die. Relying on an almost diabolical spirit, the director pulls together around twenty parallel plots and keeps us in constant suspense. The efficiency of the direction and the sobriety of the performances reveal the influence of Hitchcock and Italian neo-realism”. (Cinemonde)
“Tanhofer’s film introduced a series of technical and narrative innovations in Yugoslavian cinema, such as the mosaic of dramaturgy and the use of documentary techniques in a live-action film. This is one of the first Socialist films to address contemporary urban themes, at a time when Yugoslavian cinema mainly produced works inspired by the recent war and the literary heritage. Tanhofer on the contrary was interested in the Socialist middle class, in particular the effect of economic growth and rapid modernization on the dreams and private lives of common people. For all these reasons, the film remains important and is often cited as one of the finest stories in Croatian cinema. It is celebrated as the first example of a Socialist noir, a perfect blend of classic narrative techniques and the Neo-Realist tradition, which at the time was important to Socialist filmmakers”. (Chris Marcich)
