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+ Best On-Screen Couple of the Year: Florijan Ajdini and Branka Katic + Best Yugoslavian Movie of the Year
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| Many of the vivid characters of Emir Kusturica's Black Cat, White Cat are arranged on this inviting, merry poster for the film |
A hard-pressed gypsy father in a distant corner of Serbia has devised a plan of a train heist, but the plan fails, and soon his enamored son has been promised away to a small woman ...
Black Cat, White Cat is written by Gordon Mihic (Tango Argentino/Tango Argentino (1992)) and directed by great Bosnian filmmaker Emir Kusturica (Do You Remember Dolly Bell?/Sjecas li se, Dolly Bell (1981)). The original title translates to, 'black (female) cat, white tomcat'.
The plot in this film could hardly be presented in something not from the hand of Balkans' Spielberg, Kusturica, and his dedicated team of madmen. Full of geese, bad teeth, phony liquor and gold and comedy caused by - along with genuine love for - the musical culture and devil-may-care life philosophy and total recklessness of the people of these Eastern European nations.
The film is sometimes irresistibly funny and has charming performances, not least from the very photogenic young couple in the film: Florijan Ajdini (Icaro 2012 (2006)) and Branka Katic (Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)), who looks like a Balkan Scarlett Johansson. The wedding scene is too long, - and the movie overall may be 20 minutes overlong, - but it is pretty magical. One wonders in the present day, watching this film, if the EU, who have taken in several of these countries since the film was made, and the advent of smartphones and social media has put this sprawling mongrel culture to sleep?
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1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Watch a 2-minute excerpt from the film here
Cost: 4.5 mil. $
Box office: Uncertain
= Uncertain
[Black Cat, White Cat was released 1 June (Yugoslavia) and runs 135 minutes. It was originally envisioned as a documentary on gypsy music and was financed and produced by no less than 10 companies and support bodies. Shooting took place from May - October 1997 in Serbia. Details surrounding the film's release are regrettably hard to come by: It grossed 351k $ in its North-American release, and 15,251 paid admission to it in Denmark (approximately 166k $). The film may have been a theatrical success, depending on how big it scored in Eastern 'home' markets and other big European markets. It was nominated for a European Film award and won 3 prizes in Venice, among other honors. Kusturica returned with Super 8 Stories (2001, documentary) and theatrically with Life Is a Miracle/Zivot je cudo (2004). Black Cat, White Cat is fresh at 83 % with a 7.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Black Cat, White Cat?
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