Title: Marko Polo
Genre: Dark Comedy / Urban Adventure
Rating: R (for language, drug references, comic violence)
MOVIE TREATMENT
Logline:
Two Balkan brothers, Joe and Bruno Jukic, concoct a plan to rescue their wayward cousin Marko from a self-destructive urban spiral by placing him under “house arrest”—with a fake ankle monitor and some Balkan-style street justice. But when the authorities get involved and Marko starts livestreaming his “captivity,” things spiral into viral chaos, Balkan feuds, and heartfelt redemption.
ACT I:
Setting: A decaying urban jungle somewhere between Toronto and Sarajevo—a crumbling neighborhood full of hipsters, drug dealers, paranoid landlords, and TikTok stars.
Joe Jukic is a stoic ex-boxer turned Uber philosopher who now drives a beat-up 2002 Honda Civic and listens to Croatian war ballads between rides. Bruno Jukic, his younger brother, is a failed DJ and conspiracy podcaster with a man bun and an obsession with ankle monitor tech he bought on Alibaba.
Their cousin Marko, aka “Marko Polo,” is a washed-up street legend—once a brilliant soccer prospect, now a drug-addled, hoodie-wearing ghost of his former self. He sleeps in alleys, rants about crypto, and gets arrested once a week.
Joe and Bruno love him like a brother—but he’s spiraling fast.
ACT II:
After a particularly grim overdose scare in an abandoned condo project, the Jukic boys stage a Balkan-style intervention:
They kidnap Marko and put him on fake house arrest in Joe’s bachelor basement suite—complete with an ankle bracelet hacked by Bruno using a burner phone, Bluetooth speaker, and parts from a drone.
They tell Marko, “The government finally caught you. You’re tagged. If you leave this house, you’ll be tased and deported.” Marko, paranoid and half-baked, believes them.
Marko spends his days smoking oregano, watching Serbian soap operas, and livestreaming his “incarceration” on TikTok under the handle @MarkoPoloOnLockdown. Somehow, the stream goes viral. Kids across the Balkans and Canada start wearing fake ankle monitors and chanting “Free Marko Polo!”
Marko becomes a folk hero—without leaving the house.
But trouble brews. Real authorities see the livestream. A parole officer gets confused. A Balkan war criminal turned community leader named Djordje the Butcher offers sponsorship. And worst of all, Marko starts to enjoy house arrest—refusing to leave even when he’s free.
ACT III:
The authorities raid Joe’s apartment thinking Marko’s under real federal surveillance. Chaos erupts. Bruno gets tased trying to protect his drone system. Marko flees—ankle monitor still blinking—on a stolen Lime scooter into the night.
The chase ends at a Croatian church picnic, where Marko, in a moment of accidental clarity, gives a bizarre sermon to a crowd of drunk old uncles and TikTokers about “the prison of the mind.”
Joe and Bruno finally confront him—not with fists, but with love. They offer him a deal: Get clean, or go full house arrest for real.
Marko agrees—on one condition: they let him keep the fake bracelet because it “keeps him grounded.”
EPILOGUE:
Marko opens a rehab clinic for Balkan youth called House Arrest Healing—a bizarre halfway house that combines ankle monitor therapy with ping-pong, Eastern Orthodox chanting, and cardio kickboxing.
Joe becomes a part-time counselor. Bruno monetizes the operation with merch and NFTs.
Tagline: “He couldn’t escape his past… so they put a bracelet on it.”
Tone:
Trainspotting meets Trailer Park Boys with a sprinkle of My Big Fat Balkan Intervention.
Irreverent. Absurd. Surprisingly heartfelt.
