The exuberant chaotic plot of Black Cat White Cat is impossible to convey in a few brief sentences... but I'll try. It's about three generations of gypsies - two godfather-type fathers Grga and Zarije, Zarije's near-do-well son Matko who concocts a scam to steal petrol in partnership with coke-snorting gang boss Dadan, not knowing that Dadan has another agenda. Dadan feels he's failed in life because he hasn't been able to find a husband for his diminutive sister Ladybird. When the scam goes awry Dadan insists that Matko's son Zare front up at the altar for Ladybird. But Zare's in love with Ida, another of the eccentric inhabitants of the gypsy encampment on the banks of the Danube...
How Emir Kusturica managed to get some of the shots in this film is mind-boggling... the chaotic tableaux crammed with images of humans and geese and other animals and boats and barges and more humans and a car eating pig... shot with sweeping movements in long takes... they're just so exhilarating... and while trying to follow the characters and their relationship to one another and who's doing what to whom and why is baffling to begin with, it all seems to sort itself out in the end with a wonderful endorsement of the spirit of these completely eccentric people. The performances from mostly unprofessional players fit perfectly with the whole although Srdan Todorovic's performance as the manic Dadan is so mesmerising when he's on screen. Black Cat White Cat is one of those joyously frenzied farces that just pick you up and carry you away...
David's Comment: This is streets ahead of Kusturica's questionable Underground - and it's not overtly political. He obviously loves these gypsies, and even at their most reprehensible, they're very likable. Above all, the film's tremendously funny, the songs are terrific, the characters crazy, the slapstick well handled.
