Croatia as a nation is still emerging from the shadow of war, and in [Metastases], that shadow looms long. Set in Zagreb’s criminal underworld and drug subculture, the film explores how the young post-war generation struggles to adjust to new social rules and the capitalist expectations that come with them. At the end of the 1990s, Filip returns to Zagreb after completing a drug treatment program and promptly meets up with some old friends. Among these is Krpa, a war vet and football fanatic, Dejo, a fellow junkie that pimps his girlfriend for drugs, and Kizo, a cat-loving alcoholic. Unable to find work and living with his parents, Fillip falls into old habits easily and quickly realizes he won’t stay clean and sober if he stays where he is. As the title suggests, disillusionment, malaise, and frustration spread like a cancer in Branko Schmidt’s Zagreb, a city afflicted with amorality, corruption, violence, prejudice, and crime. Schmidt recognizes that we know what happens after a cancer metastasizes but also asks the most difficult question: Where does it come from?