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The Waiting Room (2015).

An easy way to sell Igor Drljaca's second feature would be, "If Louis C.K. were a struggling Bosnian actor!" And, in fact, that's just how one critic described the drama when it premiered at the Locarno Film Festival last year. But to apply easy labels to Drljaca's work would be to grossly underserve the work, which is more nuanced and layered than any one snappy pullquote can encompass. Following the slow and stagnant life of sporadically employed Toronto actor Jasmin (Jasmin Geljo), Drljaca's film is a series of melancholic portraits that serve to illustrate a number of complex themes: the life of an "other" in an ostensibly multicultural city, the often low rewards of art, the crushing obligations of family. It's heavy material, but handled with enough sincerity and dexterity by Drljaca – and anchored by Geljo's tremendous lead performance – that its weight is more poignantly impactful than fatally crushing. (14A) – Barry Hertz

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