On the Milky Road: Sulla Via Lattea

I saw several of Kusturica's past movies, and loved their surrealism, their being funny and dramatic at the same time. In this movie, these characteristics have become manneristic and decorative - they don't particularly add to the plot or ambiance, and almost get in the way at times. The two main characters are stiff and flat, and don't suscitate any empathy. At a certain point during the movie you start yawning and wishing they die soon. Very bad acting on the part of Bellucci, and Kusturica is even worse - please send him back behind the camera and tell him not to move from there. The rest of the cast was great, on the contrary.

If you like Kusturica, you'd love this movie. And if you don't know who he is, On the Milky Road might be a good entry point to his filmography. Nevertheless, although this is finally a movie on par with his output from the 1990s (Arizona Dream; Underground; Black Cat, White Cat) this is still a far cry from his beginnings in the 1980s (Do You Remember Dolly Bell? ; When Father Was Away on Business; Time of the Gypsies).

The crucial event for understanding On the Milky Road and, for that matter, Kusturicas feature films after the aforementioned Arizona Dream, is the downfall of Yugoslavia which marked several generations of its inhabitants, to put it mildly. Kusturica felt this traumatic event particularly strong, presumably because he was entering his prime as director.

At any rate, On the Milky Road offers a lot of music, shooting and emotions delivered with a trademark bravado of the author. Even the subpar CGI, in particular the snake, didn't spoil the impression.

And although there is nothing essentially new here you must respect the effort of the author. In fact, Kusturica wrote the script, directed the movie and even cast himself in the main role just to be able to cuddle with Monica Bellucci on screen. A truly remarkable feat.

When I watch Emir Kustirica' s last film ''On The Milky Road'' with Monica Bellucci , 2016 , I realize that the director is far away from "Do You Remember Dolly Bell?" , 1981 and "When Father Was Away on Business" , 1985 for good. And there is no return to those old days. I am in deep sorrow on behalf of creative and naive Balkan cinema forever.

Those splendid days will never come back. The director is falling like a heavy stone since ''Underground'' , 1995. Even Monica Bellucci is not able to rescue this old guy.

One point for Monica Bellucci, one point for Kusturica, because he did make good movies (20 years ago) and one final point for the breathtaking scenery of Bosnia and Hercegovina, because it is truly a beautiful country, that I love very much. Else the movie is lost in over-accented symbolism, meandering but pointless search for goodness in the middle of the Bosnian war, and story that is so banal, that an evening cartoon for kids has a stronger plot.

It took years(4 years!) for Kusturica, the great Fellini copycat, to finish this movie, and I just realized why. This movie is just an elaborate framework for Kusturica to pork and rub against Monica Belucci, and he does it plenty in the movie. There are scenes where they're alone in the well, alone in the tree canopy, alone amidst the flock of sheep, alone in the river... His goal accomplished, he got plenty of time with his muse, how did he call her, a true European film diva so different than Hollywood actresses, or something similar. The same European diva that starred in big Hollywood franchises like Matrix and Bond movies, that starred in crappy Hollywood action movies opposite Clive Owen, Bruce Willis or Nic Cage?! Oh-oh, looks like his muse isn't that much different from Kusturica's arch-nemesis Angelina 'Maleficent' Jolie, after all.

'What about the movie, yo?!' If you're by any chance, a Johnny Depp fan(or who knows, maybe you're a Vincent 'The Brown Bunny' Gallo fan) you may have watched 'Arizona Dream'. Well, this movie is exactly the same like that one. Slapstick comedy + tragedy(violence) + episodes of soulful Balkan ethno music, it's all here too.

After watching this movie I officially ordain Kusturica the badge of 'Tommy Wiseau of European Cinema'. Who knows, if Wiseau had Kusturica's resources and the pristine backgrounds of REPUBLIKA SRPSKA to shoot his movies at, maybe his achievements would be greater.

Conclusion: Kusturica has the brains and the looks to play the Frankenstein in the next Universal's revivals of the character, if their negotiations with Javier Bardem fail.