Schwarze Katze, weißer Kater

First warning. This movies *does not* reveal "some deep mystery of life", like you might expect from Kusturica. It's pure (and beautifully filmed) comedy that delivers what most other comedies promise.

Second warning. This move does make "politically uncorrect" jokes, however it does not do it for the sake of attracting an audience that's proud of "understanding" and tolerating such jokes. Comparison with "There's Something About Mary" comes to my mind - with one huge difference: "Crna macka, beli macor" works! Anyway, this is not the major point of this movie.

Third warning. Most of humor in this movie is situation comedy type. If you liked Oliver Hardy swallowing nails you will laugh to a fat lady pulling them out of wood with her buttock and vice versa. Two friends I saw this movie with were not amused at all!

Besides the comedy part, it is a typical Kusturica movie. Geese running everywhere, special air-condition face cooling system type inventions etcetera. Everything you love. Plus one sparkling and one plain funny and sweet love story.

I saw UNDERGROUND and I have been very impressed, and one month ago I went to the movie theater in order to see BLACK CAT, WHITE CAT and it was the illumination: "What a great movie!" I told myself. The music is very good, very captivating and structures all the movie. It make us discover a not very known culture: the tsigan culture which is very interesting and where music is very important.

That movie stands out the RETURN of Emir Kusturica.

Emir Kusturica's films all pulsate wildly to the wonderful sounds of authentic gypsy music. Guitars, fiddles, accordians and all manor of horns are as much a part of their lives as eating and sleeping.

Song and dance feature heavily in "Black Cat, White Cat," Kustruica's finest and most complete film to date. The music isn't really a soundtrack, but is largely, physically written into each scene (performed with gusto by musicians who often follow the characters around). Indeed, the 'bad-guy' character of Dadan scarcely has a scene where he isn't swinging or dancing along to something (even a bizarre pop/rock song makes a comic cameo). But the other characters have their musical moments as well.

"Black Cat, White Cat" has a large cast and a sprawling storyline, largely resolving around two gangsters - Dadan and the hapless Marko - and their attempts to outwit each other. Things come to a head when Dadan tries to force Marko's son to marry his spinster sister as a repayment for one of his father's debts.

But the plot is largely unimportant in a film of this type. The viewer is simply swept away in a good natured deluge of funny lines, inventive slap-stick, unusual settings and colourful supporting characters (a particular favourite: the old man who continually re-watches the last two minutes of "Casablanca"). All you need to do is sit back and enjoy. Oh...and listen to the music.

This is an extremely quirky film, riddled with crazy caricatures of East European mafiosi and small time crooks. It sports some of the most imaginative characters I have ever seen on a screen (a woman who pulls nails with her buttocks?) and some of the most bizarre scenes.And yet the film is beautifully balanced, never falling into outright lunacy or losing the plot.

The scenes are at times almost nostalgic, a throwback to some simpler time when you could just have fun, no holds barred. And that is exactly what this film does for me - I have not had as much fun in ages. You will leave the theater with a feel-good factor 10 and thank out loud the people who created this gem.

Kusturica is a phenomenon.

This has got to be one of the most refreshing, off-beat movies I've seen in a long while. Welcome to Kusturica's world, and what a world... This film, apart from providing quite a few slap-stick laughs also delivers some visual jewels. The sunflower field scene with the two young lovers frolicking with joyful abandon is one of the most memorable ones and perhaps a simple summary of what I found this movie to be: One full of colours, energy, and a sense of happy carefree existence in a world where rules are only written as need be, all accompanied by an inebriating gypsy soundtrack.