‘Murina’ Review: A Sinister, Sunny Croatian Coming-of-Age Makes for an Exceptional Debut
Jessica Kiang If Patricia Highsmith had ever written a coming-of-age story set on the rocky, clear-watered Croatian coastline, it might have looked a lot like Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s bright, brooding debut, “Murina,” which quietly, with a sinister Adriatic sparkle, makes the compelling case that even without labyrinthine murder plots or hard-bitten private eyes, a young girl’s passage into adulthood can be the perfect, darkly dazzling vehicle for a sunshine noir.As at home in the water as out of it — in fact the sea is maybe her refuge from more dangerous currents of life on land — Julija (Gracija Filipovic) is the lithe, surly teenage daughter of beautiful, unhappy, trapped Nela (Danica Curcic).