“A truly cinematic film about love, friendship, empathy, and the possibility to overcome political differences.”

In November of 2024 large, student-led protests broke out in Belgrade following the collapse of the concrete canopy of the train station in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second-largest city, an incident that killed 16 people. Locking down universities and other educational institutions across the country, the anti-government protests spread like wildfire and are still ongoing to this day. The divide over wider issues of corruption and the lack of accountability on the part of Serbia’s government follows the expected fault lines: Serbian right-wing nationalists support the populist government, while leftist progressives, led by students, are on the opposite side. What can make people cross that divide, especially when they don’t feel fully at ease with a side that circumstance has more or less forced them into? Love may be the answer, according to director Jelena Maksimović, who situates her tale of two star-crossed lovers, Until the Day Ends, in the heart of the protests, and shows that there is hope in the fight for a better world.

Lena (Lena Trifunović, who after a chance meeting inspired Maksimović to write her character) camps out in a university building, which she and her fellow students have occupied. Returning home for a short reprieve, she is aghast to find out that her brother Milan (Miodrag Dragičević) has sold her piano to Stefan (Andrija Krivokapić) to settle a debt. Tensions flare, and Lena and a friend head out into the city, where she crosses paths with Stefan again. They hang out for a while, before Lena sets off for another night of protest. As chaos engulfs the streets of Belgrade, she suddenly locks eyes with Stefan, who had joined the right-wing counterprotest. By chance they end up together when the riot police disperse both students and skinheads alike, and they start to fall in love on an odyssey through the city and beyond.

What makes Until the Day Ends interesting is that both characters are still finding their footing with regards to where they belong, and do not automatically shut out the other because they happen to be on opposite sides. During the time they spend before the fateful protest that brings them together as tentative lovers, they do throw jabs at each other, but there is no malice underneath. Stefan barely knows why he eventually shows up at the protest to fight on behalf of the government; he declared himself apolitical earlier in the film, a statement Lena can only scoff at, but everything about him suggests that he is not wrong. Lena is harder to read, even though Maksimović has stated that she recognizes her young self in the character. There is a certain unease about Lena, but her political ideas are never in doubt. It makes the balance between the characters somewhat uneven, yet it prevents Stefan from becoming a caricature early on (a fate his mates do not escape), which would make it hard to swallow when he’s drawn to Lena later in the film.

Maksimović’s visual style and mise-en-scène are distinctive, and the direction showy but very effective. A cobblestone that travels from Lena to Stefan through many hands, the camera following it on its journey, is inventively staged and shot, but also hints at the burgeoning connection between the two characters. Large parts of the film are dark, with dangerous shadows all around, and this makes for an intense viewing experience that is compounded by lots of lens flare. While one could see this as symbolic of a fractured Serbian society, what it mostly does is give the film a unique texture. Until the Day Ends is a rather singular film, and for that alone it should be worth the watch, but the disarming performances from newcomers Trifunović and Krivokapić at its heart make the film even more impressive than the visual acrobatics. They display genuine chemistry, especially late in the story when Lena and Stefan have fled the city and light starts coming back into the film. Maksimović’s confidence and the emotional core created by these two characters combine for a truly cinematic film about love, friendship, empathy, and the possibility to overcome political differences.