Film Review: Bore Lee in the Claws of the Big Z (Bore Lee: U kandžama velegrada, 2003)

With so many films in cinemas being products of naked commercial calculations or the desire to spread ideology, it is easy to forget that filmmaking can, at times, be a labour of love, and the purity of the author’s intention and enthusiasm can result in a quality of its own, capable of winning audiences and disarming critics. One such film is Bore Lee: U kandžama velegrada (“Bore Lee: In the Claws of Big City”), a 2003 action film directed by Mario Kovač, Krešimir Pauk, and Ivan Ramljak, also known by its English title Bore Lee in the Claws of the Big Z. Despite being the antithesis of everything mainstream Croatian filmmakers stood for, it earned an important place in the annals of Croatian cinema.

Boris Ivković plays the protagonist and his alter ego Bore Lee, the grand master of martial arts from Sinj, a picturesque town in the Dalmatian hinterland. Always willing to perfect his skills, Bore Lee has become convinced that yoga would help him relax between fights. The problem is that there isn’t anyone to give yoga classes in Sinj. Bore Lee decides to venture to the Croatian capital city of Zagreb in order to find a proper yoga course. He meets Anayoga (played by Ana Franjić), a beautiful yoga instructor with whom he falls in love. In the meantime, he also runs into thugs led by Evil Kovač (played by Mario Kovač), who are harassing patrons of Močvara, a popular nightclub and alternative culture centre. After Bore Lee successfully defeats Kovač’s minions, Kovač decides to abduct Anayoga, forcing the martial arts master to use his skills to rescue his girlfriend.

The story of Bore Lee in the Claws of the Big Z began a decade earlier when Boris Ivković was an unemployed textile technician in his native Sinj. A lifelong fan of films starring Bruce Lee, he dedicated his life to studying and perfecting martial arts, and he began to record displays of his newly acquired skills on VHS tape, gradually making live-action films. Those tapes became an underground sensation in Sinj and turned Ivković into a local celebrity. Bore Lee made six films before being discovered by theatre director Mario Kovač, who, together with his friends Krešimir Pauk and Ivan Ramljak, invited him to Zagreb to star in their own film. In the Claws of the Big Z was made on videotape in a matter of days, with a script allegedly written on a single sheet of paper and a budget barely bigger than the price of Ivković’s train ticket. However, the trio of directors managed to assemble a relatively large cast made up of patrons of Močvara, including some celebrities who just happened to hang around the popular nightclub during the weekend. To say that In the Claws of the Big Z is rough around the edges is an understatement, but the authors of this film made it a feature rather than a bug. Advertised as a “Croatian trash film,” the film wore its amateurish nature with pride, and despite Ivković and the rest of the cast, with the exception of Kovač, who marvels at the opportunity to ham it up as the chief villain, not being able to hide their lack of proper acting skills, this did not prevent the trio of directors from displaying occasional bursts of creativity, not only in parodic references to popular martial arts and action films but also in quotes that refer to the recent history of Croatia and other ex-Yugoslav countries.

The real success of In the Claws of the Big Z occurred when the authors managed to create a huge buzz following production, resulting in a red carpet premiere, a lot of free advertising, and Continental Film, the country’s top film distributor, issuing a DVD that became a big hit in Croatian video stores. This edition also became the first to feature audio commentary by its directors, which, unsurprisingly, is as funny and entertaining as the film itself. In the Claws of the Big Z was predictably snubbed by mainstream festivals and despised by mainstream Croatian filmmakers whose state-sponsored films never feature action or comedy and, as a result, never have a proper audience. Some critics would later accuse Kovač, Pauk, and Ramljak of exploiting Ivković’s innocence and enthusiasm, but, on the other hand, without their help, this film and its main star would have never become a national sensation. The instant success of In the Claws of the Big Z led to a 2004 sequel titled Bore Lee: Čuvaj se sinjske ruke!, but that film, despite a large budget and a cast that included professional actors, lacked the rawness, authenticity, and novelty of its predecessor.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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