On the Milky Road

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.

Fans of Kusturica will not only recognize all the trademarks - the general hilarious feel, the music, the rhythm, the fast transitions from ugly to beautiful, from comic to tragic, from realism to surrealism - but will probably also enjoy them. To a degree. Because this film suffers precisely from that: we have seen it all before. Despairingly, no signs that Kusturica is exploring new grounds. Worse, it doesn't seem he is interested in exploring new grounds. Worst, it seems he doesn't care about offering anything new. On the contrary, this film is a kind of regression: the basic story is not interesting at best and sloppy at worst, the characters have no depth, and the machismo is as frustrating as ever. Don't expect subtle messages here, but do expect the bravado of another carnival. Having said all this, as the saying goes, the subversion of the cultural distinction between human and animals is pretty good.

This is confident, assured and exhilarating cinema, and comes highly recommended.The first five minutes are completely overwhelming, and you wonder how much more of this frenetic pace will be tolerable; it's questionable whether this gives way to something calmer or you just tune in to it all, but the first half of the film is a dizzying, intoxicating whirlwind that demonstrates just how accomplished Kusturica is as a director (he's not too shabby in front of the camera, either).This is cinematic anarchy in all its folkloric glory.

The plot gets a bit over-tangled but there is nothing too over-the-top for Kusturica especially when trying to resolve a difficult situation, not even flying!

Thin,meandering, and overlong, but what heart and imagery!

I guess this film was made so the director/starring character got the chance to kiss Monica Bellucci and fullfil a lifetime dream. Trully disappointed by the lack of serious plot and common sense!

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.