Shadows over Balkan / The Balkan Shadows / Black Sun (Amazon Prime)
Not really sure why this series has different titles depending on the market. Anyway, this is the first Serbian TV series that I watched, and the first product from the former Yugoslavia that doesn't deal with war directly or with cowboys and Indians.
Very good plot and acting from everyone, and this should be one to recommend the series, but there is a huge BUT.
It's a time period drama, and the sets, accessories cars, weapons, and costumes are the big let down and are very distracting.
The show wasn't filmed in Belgrade, but somewhere in rural Macedonia, and it shows. Only a few cheap sets have been built for the series. Cars are totally wrong, the majority being Mercedes Benz W136 which was introduced in the mid-1930s. The characters are brandishing Magnum. 44s and Walter P38s even though the series is set in 1928-1929.
Since Russian production company was involved in making of the show, I kind of wished for it to be filmed in Russia where they usually get these things right for big budget productions.
Second let down, and I can't believe that I'm complaining about it is the gratuitous nudity which most of the time just there and has nothing to do with the plot advancement or being integral to it. It got so bad that one point when a new female character was introduced I was literally thinking to myself "please don't get naked, please don't" Of course, she did, and I was like, "I'm sorry but expected more from the former Miss Macedonia".
Still recommended because of the plot and acting.
Can't wait for the 2nd series, as, unfortunately, my Ukrainian is not enough to understand Serbian, and I do in fact need to rely on subtitles, which are not the best either.