If you’re looking for a piece of pre-millennial, post-apocalyptic dread to get you in the mood for Y2K, you can look at the latest film from Macedonia, Zbogum na dvadesetiot vek. The trouble is, while the film is certainly unusual, it is inconsequential, incomprehensible and virtually unwatchable.
Darko Mitrevski and Aleksandar Popovski direct this sci-fi tale, which starts in the year 2019. A religious cult, some of the only survivors after some planet-devastating event, seeks to execute a man called Kuzman (Nikola Ristanovski). The trouble is, he’s cursed with immortality, and left to wander the barren globe in search of an answer.
Flash back 20 years to New Year’s Eve, 1999. Santa Claus (Lazar Ristovski), that’s right, Santa Claus Is he just a regular man, or a prophet foretelling the ultimate doom?!? He interrupts an odd, darkly comic wake (perhaps that of mankind), where the mourners seem to represent the worst aspects of humanity. What happens at midnight may forever alter civilization’s ultimate destiny.
This short summary of events is much more coherent than anything you’d find in the ridiculous Goodbye 20th Century! The first half feels like a poor hybrid of Mad Max and Highlander, and the film quickly goes downhill from there.
Fans of cult movies may find a few gems here and there throughout the film, but, for the most part, the film is not worth the search. At one point there may have been a message or meaning to the film, but whatever it may be, it is hopelessly muddled.
It’s a pity that Mystery Science Theater 3000 is no longer on the air. Now, Goodbye 20th Century has no place to shine.