Ode Eddy/Eddy's Gone (2006) - full transcript

The film, made in the comic-esthetics itself, deals with the life and work of Edvin Biukovic - Eddy, one of the most acclaimed Croatian comic-strip artists. Although he drew Star Wars episodes in the U.S., in Croatia he was almost anonymous. He died in his early thirties. Eddy's Gone is also a story about the comic-strip culture in Croatia

A few months earlier one friend who
actually met him only once,

he said that he met him once and
concluded, his comics aside,

just from his behaviour,
that Eddy was a genius.

You take that for granted.

That's Eddy, he's a genius, okay,
now shut up Eddy, you know...

We know you're a genius,
shut up and work.

How stupidly I've drawn this.

There goes a hedgehog,
after him goes a mouse,

after him 10 ants, and nothing else
by any chance.

EDDY'S GONE

1. Genius



Tell us, what are you drawing, Eddy?

- What are you drawing?
- Leave me be, you're stoned.

So what?

Go away!

Why?

He said... So what...

And you are...?

Cry, cry...

I'm drawing a teddy bear.

He doesn't know how to draw.

Everything had to be his way.

If we had agreed to meet here
at some specific time,

when we had all have to come,

everyone would already work at that
time, he would come last,



of course, he would be
extremely nervous,

because it was raining,

taxi driver was stupid,
I don't know,

Zagreb is a shitty town,

it's too crowded or there's no one
in the streets, or whatever.

He would come nervous,
already broke deadlines,

And then he would start:

"Move, that's my chair."

Everything had to be his way.

We had lunchtime when he was hungry.

- Give me half of the bread. - You want
to share a girl also? - No, no...

- Move those cakes. - Jesus, feed us.

- Those are old cakes. - I know they
are but they look nice.

He was grumbling,

but when someone would bring to him
some drawings to show

he would become very serious
and objective about it.

And very positive because he wanted
to encourage you to further work.

His grandma died.

He's a nice person but

he's also very evil in fact.

- Yeah?
- Yes.

How do you mean - evil?

- Well, he's corrupted,
he likes to shit-talk.

Things like that.

Okay, joking is something else

but he had a really good approach
to that. That was great.

He was a man you could talk about
wallpapers and it would be interesting.

He had opinion on everything
and it was funny.

We were talking about films
that we liked.

And, when we would talk about
some cadre

he would say it was this and that cadre
and we would all know

what he was talking about.

Pretty simple. There weren't unknowns.
He simply had...

a camera in his head.

And you could see that in his comics.
He was very deep into films.

He had a character definitely.

Even when he was angry,

when we had fights, there were always
some misunderstandings.

But it was pleasure talking to him.

It was impossible not to love him.

2. Lucas

Here we are tonight, in the

very honorable company of a man
to whom we all owe...

Mister

George Lucas.

Mister Lucas,

what do you think
about your latest work?

I like it.

Could you explain that a bit?

It's complex, it borrows forms

from all myths and...

transforms them into hamburger.

He always yelled

he'll drive a rocket.

That he'll be a pilot. He liked that.

And I was thinking... Drawing,
he will draw as a hobby.

He wanted applied arts or...

one more crazy idea,

he'll go to Belgrade,
on military academy.

And he'll be a pilot.

Which I, normally, didn't simply...

I said: I have only you, no chance
that you'll go to Belgrade.

It's not my fault everyone took it
so seriously.

He had good relationships
with classmates.

Of course, there were always...

But yeah, people liked him because
he was a prankster.

And I also think...

that he was extra popular because
of the way he was drawing.

Even at school where everyone was
drawing this was very attractive.

We were from the very beginning
very much into comics,

for us it was the most important
thing in the world.

We only wanted to be comic artists
when we grow up.

I am...

this.

This. Is me.

A brush.

Okay, brush, I didn't...

- A good brush.
- And this...

this is everyone else.

Just a second.

Primitive, plastic...

And in fact...

they could afford themselves
something better

but they do not dare so they have
to be satisfied with trash.

He was stubborn.

I was curious and asked him when
will know the results.

He said after 12.

Summer, the weather was nice.

I went there earlier, sat on the bench,
and waited for the results.

This guy brought the list, put it
on the notice board.

Jesus. I saw it.

Six candidates, then red line,
my son the seventh.

This was very hard for me.

Then he came with his classmates
which also competed there,

and when they saw the list
they started laughing.

I asked them why they were laughing.

They said that on the list were names
that didn't even finish high school.

Those are nothing but
noobs and crybabies,

they will never give me an Oscar.

I met in Jabuka two girls.
(club in Zagreb)

They told me their friend worked
as a night guard in

Zagreb Film and let them in
one evening.

He showed them the place

and they saw for example movie theater,
this and that,

but all of this was nothing. What
stupefied them the most

was a room of some pervert

who covered the walls
from top to bottom

with Playboy posters.

And I said to them: that's our room.

You know how it is.
A man is a weak creature...

And wants to be persuaded to do
something entertaining.

So it went like this:

- Hey Eddy, let's play pinball.
- I can't, I have to work.

Then you don't repeat the question
but you hear something like

Then you know what to say:
Eddy, let's play pinball.

Okkaayyy.

Our meetings in Zagreb Film got
us used to drawing together.

We enjoyed it very much because
it was a mixture.

We were drawing and doing our job but
also did that which others were doing

playing cards or going to
football games.

That group drawing was usually
changing places.

When we were kicked out
from Zagreb Film

we spent most of the time
at Talaja's place.

- Dzuka, is this...
- People are eating from that.

- What? - What happened, Eddy?
- A little less disgust, please.

- Do you want me to cook or not?
- I want.

Then give me some
lifespace and workspace.

- Stop bullshiting that I'm disturbing
you. - Oh, for fuck's sake...

- Yes you are, look at your
stupid ass. - Go away.

When lunch is cooked, we leave the big
table and go to the small one.

And then we have a short break from
drawing while we eat.

We usually watch some trailers,
or cartoon or something.

We really enjoyed that
and then miracle happened.

Once,

Tico brought a video cassete but didn't
want to tell anything

he was just winking to me, so I wouldn't
say that we'll watch it.

So we sat down to eat,
and Tico put the videotape.

We all reacted, Eddy, of course,
reacted last.

Wait, stop, stop, stop, stop!

-Stop, stop...
- Stop, stop!

- Stop. - Stop! - And again.
-Stop!

Namely, what...

Phantom Menace

Long awaited prequel of Stars Wars

finally came on videotape, as a trailer.

We watched it like 5, 6 times in a row,
screamed out of happiness.

When we saw it finally
it was the fulfillment

of our aspirations, hopings, whishes.

Doctor George Lucas finally came back.

And now he will show to all amateurs
how to film science fiction.

I don't know if he fought for for
drawing the Star Wars

or if they were given to him
but in any case it was his dream job.

Wait, wait... Fuck it.
I've had it....

Yes, I can feel your thoughts,

your feelings for your sister.

Mister Lucas,
how do you comment all this?

They are good.

I didn't imagine it like that but
the Academy will be satisfied.

They are very avant-garde and with
good CGI we'll have a hit.

3. Grendel

Eddy didn't like when they
called him an artist.

If someone would say that...

I screw you, and I screw him, and
I screw 5000 years of culture.

He was always saying he was
a craftsman with a soul.

Talaja is a bad motherfucker.

The most Croatian comic,
probably ever made,

is Grendel, by Eddy and Macan.

Because it tells about
Croats and Croatia

and it's written in English.

It is a fictional story, futuristic,
postapocalyptic,

but it's our, domestic story,

set in our domestic terrain,

and above all it's published in USA,

it's recognized everywhere,

everyone mentions it as a cult comic
in their collections.

They did, in this Croatian context,

the most you can do it.

And it's not...

just a story and illustration
understandable only to them,

but it's univerio.... universio...
universal...

Eddy found out here
he got job on Grendel.

He didn't have phone so I chased him
through the city

and found out he's here,
at his friend's boutiqe.

I came here and he was
climbing the stairs.

I asked: what are you doing from 15th
January to 15th May next year and he:

I'm drawing Grendel?

- And I said yes. That's how he
found out. - There.

Then we started to work
but that "start" lasted for months.

Eddy was doing sketches, slowing
down and I, in one moment,

went nuts

we had a quarrel,
I took a job from him.

Faggot!

But he always knew
how to charm somebody.

So he even persuaded
awful me to go back to business.

The post office didn't let us use
scotch tape for package.

So the envelope got ruined during
the trip to USA,

and that attracted attention
from the editor

She asked aren't we having a war and
I said no, it's 100 kilometers further

to calm her and she's travelling that
distance to her job.

And...

Nothing, that's how we got the job.

His layouts sold us immediately.

I'm the man.

Eddy worked for 4 months these 2 issues
of Grendel most diligently.

Once he was super happy because he did
5 pages in one night.

I don't know any other way.

He never repeated it but okay.

In spite of all the evil tongues that
said he won't do it.

This was that American dream.

You go there, make comics, get paid,
everyone loves you, admire you.

I culminated when he got Russ Manning
award for best upcoming cartoonist

which is an award that has

specific significance because it's given
by other cartoonists.

Reaction here was...

one seizmic wave among authors,

who started thinking outside the
Croatian box,

it can be done, it's not immposible,

from normal fans who compliment you

to drunk person on some party which
tells you: "you showed them!"

I don't know to whom did we show
something but these were

in any case happy times.

4. Little gang

This was the standard procedure,
knocking on doors.

I would then stand here,
light a cigarette

and wait half an hour whatever
he was doing in the meantime.

He didn't let us upstairs.

And we had to knock so he would know
it's us, friends.

If we had rung he would have thought
he had to pay some bills or such.

And then you go nuts.

After a year you realize

damn, he was never on time. Never.

And then we decided to make a joke,
Tico, Bob and I.

We always waited for Eddy in the car,

in the night, half an hour, so we now
decided he should be waiting for us.

Baba was driver, he parked the car
further from Eddy's entrance.

So he couldn't see us at first.

When he came out we came to him
by foot, like: Hi, what's up,

we came by foot, Baba's car broke down.

It's already 10 PM, we have to
catch a tram.

Of course, Eddy was furious.

And then we set off
for the bus station as if.

I don't remember it well...

But we told him in one moment
we were joking.

We were joking with him a few minutes,
but we were sorry for the man...

We won't fool him anymore, ha ha,
Baba is just around the corner.

Let's go to Baba's car, and he screamed
at us, you fools, monkeys...

As I was waiting like that
in the entrance behind me

the light turned on, or not, I don't
remember anymore,

but some guy came running.

And he knocked on
my car window.

I turned around and saw a guy,
he was holding something here.

A Sicilian mob guy, totally.

A gun on his belt.

He said: put down the folders.

We all had our own
paranoid ideas,

what is happening here,
someone even

Bob or Eddy, saw blood on Baba.

Psychedelia...

They were cops, both.
I was relieved.

We asked what was that about,
they didn't want to tell us.

One guy wanted to search our folders.

And that was really bad situation
because I had stashed

a smaller piece of pot and
Eddy had a nice chunk.

Luckily, he searched Tico who hadn't
anything so we didn't get caught.

There was a connection between
work and smoking.

It's easier to sit and work.

It's the fundamental reason...

I don't watch football,

I don't loiter around,

Should I draw him bald?

It's good while you're drawing.

I don't think it's connected
with inspiration or talent.

It's different with the work for
Americans, on a monthly issue.

You have to sit down
and work every day.

Eddy couldn't do that, he couldn't do
a page at a day.

How should I not smoke then?

It was the third time he was to be
taken off job.

So he was affraid that maybe he actually
wasn't meant to be a cartoonist

because if it happens all the time, if
he can't finish one project to the end,

then why is he doing that?

He liked to draw, but more than that
he liked to freestyle,

He liked to have a feedback.

And also, he felt abandoned from me and
others while working on Star Wars.

Luckily he managed to finish it.

We even agreed to support him without

his knowing, to talk to him like:
you can do it, you're the man.

Of course he realized it and got mad

like: don't shit to me, what
am I a woman?

Am I incapable?

You're asshole, your comics are shit,
you're shit, you're ready for trashcan.

You're good for nothing.

But he appreciated our engagement,

our support and atmosphere
we made around him.

Look, look, Mike Mignola.

I think they sincerely admired him.

And Eddy refused to grow up

so he tried to find friends
on his level,

who were child-spirited.

Who adored Star Wars and
stuff like that, like him.

Life wanted him to grow up and he
didn't want to surrender.

5. Whooooaaaaa, what a game

Eddy liked everything to be a game.

I remember some stupid joke he told

about Titanic that sinked
while they were playing

hide and seek and little monkey
sqinted his eyes.

And monkey opened eyes while on some
floating piece of wood in the ocean,

Opened his eyes, ocean around him and
he says: whoa, what a game!

That face of his while telling
this joke

was a typical Eddy's face for me.
Just laugh and fun.

As you have less fun with getting older
I think this was...

Of course, he was killed by cancer
but this ended him.

We miss Eddy as a friend.

- Can I say? - Say it.

- Eddy pulled with him this little
group of ours. - Yeah. Exactly.

Group of authors, cartoonists that
wanted to succeed outside Croatia.

He pulled it, no doubt.

End when he left,
this link stopped working.

Yeah, this relationship
was based around comics

since we all drew them.

But it wasn't only about comics.

There was lots of friendship
and having fun, what Esad said.

When Eddy was in good mood,
he was in the best mood of us all.

And he couldn't withstand someone
not having fun.

- When he wanted to have fun, everyone
had to have fun. - Or he'd get angry.

It affected me hard.

I...

He was too joyful person
to die...

He had lots to say yet
to die so soon...

I was convinced he'll get well.

That he'll get out of the hospital
healthy. I was convinced.

It seemed possible.

And then the worst happened.

And no one could take it easily.

There was a long period of emptiness.

When it happend you could feel
vacuum in our group.

Which still exists...

I don't want to say Eddy
was head of this group...

But maybe he was...

...I think it's not...

...this is totally...

...if he's sober, if he's sober...

...I don't know its name...

...stupid...

...in English...

I remember this photo, do you?

What, they've started to work?

I'm not finished.

Here.

You can put him on the toilet wall
and then shit on him.

This is one of the better...

No it's not.

This is very authentic.

You were doing the best mischiefs.

Of course, I'm not finished yet
but soon...

I did nothing, I'm just
shiting around.

Every asshole flies to his nest.

Whoooaa, what a game.

I give you this

and you say: but Talaja you love me.

C'mon Talaja, why are you
such a faggot?

Finished.