Tiempo de gitanos

'Time of the Gypsies' is a big, full movie.

It is full in the way a magic realism novel is full, with its intergenerational cast of characters; its vivid sense of place, the weather and community life, where private is always public, where joy and tragedy are inextricable; where magic, dream and delusion are indistinguishable.

It is full in the Fellini sense, with its grand, often hallucinatory, set pieces; its profusion of grotesques; its bursting compression of many plots; its general noisiness.

It is one film containing many simultaneous films (a gangster film; a surreal road movie; a romantic comedy; a rites-of-passage; a Christian allegory).

It somehow feels a little thin, like a tapestry of chunks from a massive novel. It is certainly a prime example of retrospective dating - at the time it seemed a masterpiece; over a decade on, it's pastiche Kusturica.

In Russia we have a fine 300 minutes (without kidding) DVD release of the movie (the "director's cut"?). It has its moments. The first part is hilarious and witty. The second one is absurd and insane. The third is depressing and scary. The forth is enterprising and weird. The last one is violent and tragic. To crown it all, the only reason that this feature is an outsider (it is not in IMDb top 250) seems to be the following: not many people saw it.

It doesn't look like fiction. It feels quite gritty and has very adult topics. The Gypsies look and act like Gypsies (well, at least to my taste and knowledge). There was once a serial on Russian TV called "Karmelita", where the Gypsies were shown civilized, snobbish, stylish in their dressing, good-looking, etc. They were talking and talking (in pure Russian, of course, phonetically perfect), showing a little bit more emotion than lamas (sorry my exaggeration). Personally, very thankful to my relatives that they did not spend their precious watching that never ending fiction. The title song in that "Gypsy" serial was sung by Mr Nikolay Baskov (a real "Gypsy" with blond hair). It lasted as long as 200+ parts mixed with good portion of commercials. Instead of prolonged showing of the "epic" "Karmelita" our TV should have shown "Dom za vesanje". On the other hand, they would have spoiled the whole movie by pushing commercials into it. So, let the matter rest.

The only really bad thing about "Dom za vesanje" movie seems to be the way of its DVD presentation: after the end of each part there is a kind of sketch of the next one before the credits roll over. These spoilers are not enjoyable.

Still it also has some minor drawbacks. To me they are camera-work and the absence of powerful scenery shots, i.e. the lack of the contrast and the ability to see what happens in good detail.

An 8 for this poesy of human existence in hellish surroundings will do. Thank you for attention.

When I see a Kusturica film, I see the magic of Fellini but with a sinister edge. His characters may be crude and immorally incorrect, but interesting enough as an observation piece that represents the madness of life. All this done through an epic journey taken by the young and shy Perhan, who discovers the crudeness of live that alters his whole believes and existence. The film plays like an opera, but without the soap, making it another Kusturica masterpiece that mixes the real with the bizarre.

Dom za vesanje is not a movie that an average viewer can comprehend thoroughly, but this doesn't change the fact that it's a masterpiece. Emir Kusturica's storytelling requires some talent, intelligence, and flawless attention to follow and understand correctly, nonetheless it's absolutely unique and fantastic. I would never ever have thought I'd enjoy seeing the world through Yugoslavian gypsies' eyes, but it turned out to be possible so long as it's Kusturica who opens the window. Goran Bregovic's adorable tunes suit the movie perfectly fine too. This movie was one of those that strengthened my opinion which states European movies are a billion times better than American movies. Thanks to Kusturica and Bregovic for producing such a beauty. A perfect 10 for the cast as well.

Surreal, amazing and absorbing, there are not enough words to explain how great this movie is. I watched it late night on ITV in London from 2am to 4am only to catch a train the next day to Kent, but i don't regreat one moment of it. Am not even going to bother telling you what the film is about, because it really is one of those stories thats best kept to oneslf. Its like a good memory you keep to yourself. I have not seen any of the other Emir Kusturica films, but i will highly recommend this movie for all those that love fantasy, film and a good story.

Dom za vesanje: Approved