A Coming of Age Story of Rare and Welcome Warmth, Courtesy of Macedonia

“DJ Ahmet,” the debut feature by writer-and-director Georgi M. Unkovski, is among the happiest events to come down the pike in recent memory. Is it a dereliction of critical duty to festoon it with shopworn pull-quotes like “heart-warming” and “feel good?” Mr. Unkovski isn’t above using tried-and-true nostrums: “Art . . . ,” he has written, “can become both a refuge and a catalyst for change.”Platitudes are a problem only in as much as they attempt to justify mediocre art. Mr. Unkovski has brought us a movie of rare and welcome warmth, a coming of age story in which the mysteries of both adolescence and adulthood are plumbed with an uncanny sense of immediacy.Context counts for a lot. The far reaches of northern Macedonia and the lives of the ethnic Turks living there, the Yuruks, are, I would guess, little known to most of us. All the same, many of the travails that are endured by them are as recognizable as the day is long. The days turn out to be very long for Ahmet (Arif Jakup). Our title protagonist is 15-years old, inquisitive and a diligent student–that is, when he’s not sharing headphones with a buddy and grooving to techno music.Ahmet’s school days are put to an abrupt end when he’s pulled out at the request of his father (Aksel Mehmet). Education is less important than maintaining the family’s sheep farm, especially given the recent death of Ahmet’s mother. A hard life is made all the more difficult by a father who is becoming an increasingly stringent parent. Dad may be difficult, but he’s not a bad guy: Depth of sorrow can be incalculable. Mr. Mehmet’s performance is soulful and steely.Among Ahmet’s charges are twenty sheep and a younger brother, Naim (a pixieish Agush Agushev). Since their mother’s death, Naim has stopped speaking, a tendency for which dad seeks the help of a local healer (Nadzi Shaban). The nature of the folk remedies being dispensed to remedy Naim’s “curse” is left unsaid, though there is a fleeting mention of leeches. Old ways die hard; the 21st-century can seem very far away.Music provides solace for the two boys, as do online distractions. Ahmet and Naim indulge in each fitfully and on the sly: The boys’ father deems music as being inappropriate to a period of mourning, and the family’s internet service is limited. Technology is a conundrum for many in the village. The perplexity by which the local muezzin (Atila Klince) operates the mosque’s new computer makes for a splendid running gag throughout “DJ Ahmet.” This is a very funny movie.Ahmet isn’t pleased by the change in his fortunes, but two events mitigate his despondency. The first is the arrival of Aya (Dora Akan Zlatanova), the daughter of a neighbor who has returned home to fulfill her obligation to an arranged marriage. The second event is Aya-adjacent: Ahmet sneaks out of the house late at night, wending his way through a darkened forest only to end up at a rave. He notices Aya in the crowd without her customary raiment. Ahmet also notices a flock of sheep — his family’s sheep — wandering through the mosh pit. He failed to properly fasten their pen. There’s going to be hell to pay with dad.This is especially the case when Ahmet recovers only 19 of the animals. What happens to that single sheep is of a piece with a film that tells a straightforward story with means that are closely observed, adroitly choreographed, warm and droll. Sound designers Miroslav Červená Chaloupka and Ludvik K. Bohadlo, working in close conjunction with the score by Alen Sinkauz and Nenad Sinkauz, help create an ambiance that is sweet and funny, as does Naum Doksevski’s closely-grained cinematography. However familiar some of the particulars in Mr. Unkovski’s screenplay might be, he brings to them tangents that are specific, off-center and, in the end, surprising. The book of Ecclesiastes tells us that there’s nothing new under the sun. “DJ Ahmet” shows up just how true and just how short-sighted that epigram is. Here is a treat to savor.

A Coming of Age Story of Rare and Welcome Warmth, Courtesy of Macedonia

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