Good concept, poorly executed.

Excellent, smart action film.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Mambrú (Benicio Del Toro) is the world-weary leader of a group from 'Aid Across Borders' trying to help sanitation in the war-torn Balkans. He reconnects with his conflict-evaluater ex Katya (Olga Kurylenko). He deals with UN bureaucracy, problematic locals, and a body stuck in a well. The irreverent B (Tim Robbins) and translator Damir (Fedja Stukan) go off in search of rope to pull out the body. The idealistic newcomer Sophie (Mélanie Thierry) is exasperated. There's the boy looking a ball. It's a day in the life.I like that this takes this serious world and use a small part to run the plot through. It's like a little hamster running around in a wheel. There is a bit of humor and plenty of poignant sadness. It's a little slow at times but it never lets go. It's great that it gets tied together in the end.

Characters & Story (with Commentary)It all begins, and ends, with a dead body in a well. Mambru (Benicio Del Toro) and Damir (Fedja Stukan) tried to get it out, but their rope breaks. Sophie (Mélanie Thierry) makes it a huge thing when they return to the UN base, and with her getting rebuffed comes her pushing the others of her group to go against orders. So everyone, including B (Tim Robbins) a grade-A eccentric, head off to find a rope.But, with this rope journey comes Nikola (Eldar Residovic), a child who lost their ball to bullies who Mambru feels sorry for, and then Katya (Olga Kurylenko). Now, while Nikola's part in this story isn't necessarily huge, nor Katya when I think about it, both are perhaps the only reason Mambru isn't forgettable. For while Sophie is identifiable by how passionate she is about the locals having clean water, and B is memorable for how out there he is, the other two are a bit dull. Though Nikola and Katya change that. Nikola shows Mambru has a soft side and with Katya, while we know Mambru has a reputation, as well as a girlfriend, Katya, sadly, helps push the idea he is some sort of reformed man.Leaving us with a film which sort of presents the idea that humanitarian aid workers come in all shapes, sizes, and bring their own unique sense of drama. HighlightsAs individuals, I must admit both B and Sophie are intriguing enough that it almost makes you wish this film was just about those two. B would be the one who is willing, and mentally able, to do whatever it takes to get the job done, and Sophie may be reluctant to follow B's methods, but since red tape and "No" don't go well with her sense of justice, she goes along with it. To me, that would have been interesting and paired with us getting to know their history and journey, it could have made for a decent film. Low Points>The film ends and begins at a well and it bugs me out a little bit for that is all this 1 hour and 46-minute movie is about. They are searching for a rope, and then they throw in some mentions of Mambru's love life. Which, even with damn near every supporting character doing her best to make him seem interesting, it just doesn't work.>The lack of commentary was a bit disappointing to me. There isn't much said about the war in the Balkans, much less how much difficulty they had being aid workers in the region. Instead, as noted, we get a bit of relationship drama and watch the group search for rope.>I was left wondering why any of the cast, besides Sophie, wanted to become aide workers? For while there is downtime here and there, there isn't much of an attempt to allow us to get to know the characters. We don't get to see why they would go into an area filled with mines that could easily kill them, we aren't given the chance to understand why, likely for years, they have been aid workers, much less, while it is clear that everyone knows everyone, there isn't any epic story between them which really makes them seem like the type of group who would stick their neck out for one another. If anything, they just seem like they were assigned together, witnessed or heard somethings, and just pick on one another most of the time. Which, for what I know, could be how things are, but it made for a bleh viewing experience.>I did not understand, for the life of me, how taking a child, Nikola, and keeping him for about a day, made any sense to Mambru? They are in an area in which the military still has a strong presence, and people are still being murdered and illegally detained, there is always the chance that between their convoy, or the UN base, they could have been attacked and, lastly, what Mambru did damn near looks like a kidnapping. Something Katya says and while it is good Nikola's grandfather doesn't flip out, considering the murder, and likely kidnappings, in the area, it makes the film all seem too convenient. Be it the Nikola situation, or everything else that happens.Final Thought(s): Skip ItSometimes I have quite a difficult time deciding between what to skip and what to just lump into TV Viewing, and then there are films like this. One which, as much as it has potential in some areas, I find myself more so finding things to pick over than to praise. Leaving me without much of a, "yeah this and this may suck, but this compensates for that immensely." Which is something I can't say with this film. There is nothing really within this film to compete with its shortcomings, thus leaving me thinking this film isn't worth your time and whatever effort it would take to see this film. For despite, on paper, potentially being interesting, it fails to pick up on any topic which could have been a bright point. Be it a child's point of view of the war, witnessing the lives of aid workers, or even making this into the type of adventure which, yes, may have been about something as simple as getting a rope, but at least had the type of characters who made a simple journey worth following.

A group of aid workers work to resolve a crisis in an armed conflict zone. Although slow paced the film "A Perfect Day" succeeds on many levels thanks to a cast of talented people such as Benicio Del Toro, Tim Robbins, Olga Kurylenko and even some new faces such as Mélanie Thierry. The film is mostly about this aid workers that try to take a dead body out of a pit but they can't do that because the government thinks that there might be some explosives down there as the film continues we meet a young boy called Nikola played by Eldar Residovic who is also good we learn about his backstory about his parents and his grandpa but he also tries to help our characters to find a rope in order to get that body out of there. Although in the end that doesn't happen but it happens in a different way that i won't spoil it's by no means a perfect movie but it's for sure a really good one and a surprising well made one i give it a 7.5 out of 10.

This is an English language Spanish road-adventure that was adapted from a book. Takes place in the Yugoslavia during the end of its civil war. Other than that there's no detail about when and where it sets in or is it inspired by the real story. Shot in the beautiful mountain roads and villages. The camera work was so good, I loved the aerial photography that revealed the beauty of those mountainous regions, despite the war atmosphere.This is a surprise film, because I never heard it before and did not know what to expect from it, but in the end I'm very pleased with the overall product. That's what usually we want in a film than to follow a project from its announcement till it hit the screens, then sometimes we may end in a disappointment after the long wait. So I guess this is better.A simple theme, but the plot developed into a greater venture. It revolves around a bunch of aid workers who were deployed to help in the war torn villages. When they find a dead body dumped in a well which is the main source for the drinking water in the region, they try to remove it. But it is not that simple, after failed in their first attempt, they look for another rope to pull the corpse out. So the adventure begins to revolve around one mission. In the remaining tale, it reveals theirs unpleasant events of the day, that's why it's called 'A Perfect Day'.This is not a war movie, but with the backdrop of war the entire concept was developed. It is obviously a comedy-drama, and a very good film on this theme you would find at present. It does have a couple of intense scenes that push us to the edge of the seats. No nudes or the sex, no violence either, not even tortures or the deaths. Still, it is rated best suitable for adults only because of a few dialogues related to the sex. Other than that this film does not deserve uppercase r for the US market."Welcome to Konopac, the rope capital of the world."The international cast was awesome for such a story. Individually, I liked everyone's performances, no one was lesser than the others among the lead characters. The only drawback was the underdeveloped characters, but that does not affect us the tale to entertain. They are not a medic team or any other similar kind, but very unusual characters that you have ever seen in a film. There's no physical stretch like they have done some tough stunt sequences, but they all quite beautifully exhibited their roles as the UN aid workers.A single day tale, and the mix of both - realism and humours. Just depicted how a day of work would be in the places where it was devastated by war, especially representing the UNO and encountering problem for a simple matter. In addition to that, what happens when some old unresolved issues between two people reappear. All these were narrated very funnily, and sometime the fact of the war takes some of the scenes to the serious.Like I said I enjoyed it a lot, and I believe it is capable to pull out another film to follow. Yep, like I always say when I like a film, I won't say no for a sequel to this. Because what the film characters accomplished in the end of the narration has looked to me just a beginning of another adventure. It might mean the loop in the tale to end on a high note, yet give an opportunity for another possible venture. I have no idea about the book, but it sounds good to me and I'll pray for it to happen. It was not a masterpiece, but a cute little film, which is kind of unpredictable and that's the its strength. I hope you all would give it a try, because it is worth it.8/10