Maradona by Kusturica (2008) - Emir Kusturica

Second documentary produced by bosnian Emir Kusturica, after Super 8 Stories, made in 2001, and in which the filmmaker paid tribute to the band that himself leads and takes all over the world spreading his gypsy-roots music. For this opportunity, and as evidenced by the title, the director will pay tribute to one of his biggest idols, known his fervent passion for football: Diego Armando Maradona. Kusturica had previously produced the beautiful drama Life Is a Miracle (2004), the very irregular and incomprehensible Promise me this (2007), and one year immediately after the latter mentioned film, produces the director this documentary, in which he revels sharing moments documenting the life of one of the biggest stars of football. Enjoys Emir shaping impressions and memories of the popular "Pelusa", his start from the humblest moments of his childhood, his rise and pass through various football clubs, Boca Juniors from Argentine, Italian Naples, Spanish Barcelona , and of course, their historical and imperishable historical goals to England with the national team of Argentina. He also collected comments of the soccer star, collecting views and wails, his foray into television, of course the scandal of drug addiction, among other things. Containing the documentary style with which the Bosnian had hovered in the previous documentary cited lines above, it is a nice sketch built by the Balkan of one the greatest icons of modern culture.

              

Interestingly, that commented documentary style is captured when from the beginning we see the Bosnian band in concert, and Kusturica presented as the Maradona of cinema, and more than one segment will feel also impregnated with similar atmosphere to that documentary debut, paraphernalia deployed in that picture is quite similar, something certainly very natural by the way. In that sense, something of his particular and irreverent style, his singular mood is manifested, and perhaps were a little exagerated certain animations, cartoonish performances as a mockery of British royalty, the then Yankee ruler Bush, among others significant people; it is an element that gives some slapstick air to the documentary, but it is something that knowing the style of Kusturica, prone as it is to the excesses, in addition to his particular humor, and of course the obvious nature and guidelines of this work, that "slapstick air" is seen rather as something moderate. We observe an attractive retrospective to life of the famous "Pelusa", obviously an anthology of his best achievements in the football field, the inescapable drug-addiction theme, and his TV foray into the "The night of the 10" show. Archive photos in black and white will document the beginnings of Maradona when he was a child and giving touches to the ball, showing his skills and predicting his future glories.

We will see his beginnings in Fiorito, of course a visual compilation of his most brilliant goals in Argentina, Italy, Spain, and numerous replays of the moment when he touched the sky with his hands in the World Cup Mexico 86, the indelible goals to England, hand of God and certainly the goal of the century, repeated so many times as a goal of this caliber deserves. Being shot in 2005, it is also documented the time when Maradona returns to Naples, and of course the overflowingpassion he gets, a city, a football club where he is a living legend is portreyed. Maradona as well travels to Belgrade, to the Red Star club stadium, club of the former Yugoslavia, historical champion of the Champions League, a stadium where Diego played a game, and recreates memorable goals there. Kusturica, as football fan as all of his followers we know, has the honor to exchange touches and butting the ball with Diego Armando Maradona himself, a real enjoyment and pleasure for the giant Balkan filmmaker. Kusturica said that Maradona even talked to his sick mother, a woman who died the next day; Maradona was his last friend to talk to her, says the Bosnian. Emir actually goes to Buenos Aires, visits bars and brothels, and records too the excesses of Argentines with the Church of Maradona, where we even observe a couple contracting marriage, while they swear undying loyalty to the guidelines to that, if you can call, church and religion; we see the extremes to which "el Diego" is worshiped, is idolized and deified in his homeland, a worship that seems to know no limits.

Indeed the "Pelusa" is more than a celebrity, changing his usual position, Kusturica himself, a personality in his world, the world of cinema, compared to Maradona becomes another paparazzi. And despite the good vibes between them, that does not stop a sequence of Emir waiting for the prior world star outside his home, and getting snubbed because Diego is simply not in good mood. However, is noticeable that the author of the film feels genuine admiration for the man who is the subject of the documentary; Kusturica, coming from a violent land, historically very turbulent political and militarily, seemed to find an affinity in the revolutionary spirit of Diego, and the tremendous pitfall of idiomatic difference is minimized by a loyal translator. While Maradona speaks of the Falklands conflict between his nation and England, Kusturica interrupts the visual narration to insert images of war, probably to reinforce these words of former footballer. All the diverse characters from their environment appear, Evo Morales, Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, and of course Diego from the beginning, claiming that George Bush is rubbish, lamenting the lost time with their children because of the drug, everything lost by his addiction to cocaine. And that is a good thing for the film, having empathy, to talk directly with the former world star, generates a closeness that benefits the documentary, speaking Maradona of his pain, his drama, his history. It continues to draw attention the fact this is the latest film in nearly a decade of Kusturica, and despite this being an acceptable and digestible documentary, Promise me this was a strange misstep for the Balkan, and that is his latest film so far. Manu Chao closes the picture singing Life is a tombola to former football star, a decent job is closed, but the prolific and brilliance that Kusturica has always managed in past decades are still missed.

Promise Me This (2007) - Emir Kusturica

Having finiushed Emir Kusturica Life Is a Miracle (2004), a couple of  less-footage works would see the light, a segment of film and a television episode, before three years later the now-comented work would be as well finished. While the picture maintains many of the constants in the cinema of the Bosnian,  it was one of which most criticism earned to the director, and certainly, although not pleasant to recognize for this writer, it is one of the less-quality films of the acclaimed director of Underground. For the first time, always speaking from my perspective of course, we see Kusturica, whose cinema, what he represents, is overwhelmed by the way, the style in which he captures that; this last statement is something that will be detailed in later lines. The film depicts the story of a teenager, in contemporary Bosnia, who lives in a remote village, whose only inhabitants are himself, his grandfather, and the woman teacher at the local school. When the school is closed for lack of students, and grandfather convinces himself he is near death, makes the young fellow promise he will go to the city, will sell his prized cow, and get, among other things, a religious icon and a wife. The story is that, simple, similar in some respects to previous works of the director, but, again, something changes in the Balkan director cinema that makes this film probably the weakest of his creations.

            

From the start, as always in his films, we appreciate much of what we will see throughout the film, the bizarre occurs quickly, with so singular both awakening as having breakfast of Tsane (Uros Milovanovic). The topic, a young man whose life will experience radical change, it is not strange -Gypsy times (1988) executed with impeccable artistic results an alike formula-, but that existential contrast, this change of life will not be represented with sublime skill and mastery. If Arizona Dream (1992) the reason of a certain distance to usual, and certain weaknesses in the picture seemed to be blamed to the change of country and production for Kusturica, now that reason is no longer so clear, or at least seems to be nothing other than a filmmaker who seems to have lost the inspiration, that touch of magic that turns a work of art into something else, something very full of humanity, reality; that apparent loss of inspiration seems as well to presage the significant drop in productivity of the Bosnian, it almost explains this is his latest film in nearly a decade. And, as said, many, or all of his guidelines are in this film -his sharpness, humor, all attenuated-, but it feels a lack of strength between them, a lack of cohesion that in previous pictures made so compact his audiovisual and artistic proposals. This absence of amalgam makes the feature wobbling so much that the film is perceived as a parade of estrangement, of absurdities -usual by the way in the Bosnian-, but all uncoordinated, total weakness and disorder, atypical for an Emir work.

On this Kusturica feature, from the initial instants we nottice that his portraits no longer have the same strength as other times, the strength and power of his characters and situations has declined: the form, exaggerated with no moderation, exceeds and overshadows the background, which portrays itself. Now, for a filmmaker of the caliber and unique orientations as the Bosnian, is nothing unusual that the style, almost always bizarre, noisy, sleazy even, come to overshadow the story, to "mask" (as the director himself has said) the background with both colorful and alienation that almost always exceeds it, in a greater or lesser extent, depending on the palate to savor the film. On this occasion, all of that continues compliance, it is basically a picture with more of the same old Bosnian, however the bizarre and alienation reach levels which in effect accuse the hype that so willingly seem to stir at him his detractors; the force when portraying his people, his gypsies, no longer shines with so strong and determined assertiveness (and we miss so much this form of plot them). Now, since portraying much of the events in the city, away from his usual habitat, the field and those Gypsies whom he loves -and whose human drawings were so effective in other times-, the film by Kusturica seems to sink, seems to lose that link that so naturally and with so much strength filled the screen on other occasions. In the city, without its people, Kusturica style drowns, with no cohesion between his usual extravagance and those city clothes, entertainments in karaoke; they lose force his characters, a lack of rootedness to portray them is noticeable, and his film ends up becoming innocuous, weak, artificial.

A more luminous photography work actually also collaborates the final aesthetics of the picture to be founded with the general atmosphere of it, it feels lighter, more superficial, weaker and with less force than previous occasions with the director. And even music, such a key element in the Balkan other works, seems to collaborate as well with the aforementioned final product; with close-to-rock-and-pop contemporary notes, very differente sounds comparing his previous films, generates too light environment, which, added to the general weakness of the feature, ends up setting a universe without a soul, without a genuine reality behind them, as always used to happen in his best films. This unfortunately even reaches his usual and inevitable surreal touch, this playful but powerful in other opportunities Surrealism is now badly risible when we see an individual flying through the skies for most of the film, or other one being shot, but without thereby interrupting sexual intercourse. Or, much worse, when we see a bulky subject be inflated like a balloon and then sail through the air when deflating (...). Kusturica's films, always prone to excesses, to the absurd and unreal -but somehow all arranged and, although it sounds antagonistic, with a well defined north- , had never reached these extremes. Peeps strongly that accused exaggeration, that hyperbolic caricature-building that no longer generates as much astonishment as fun, but rather strangeness to witness such exercises that approach a cartoon, a children's product. His desire for eccentricity seems to have overpassed him, and certain scenes will generate disbelief. Nobody is perfect.

Elements and political dyes can never be absent in the films of Kusturica, and again we appreciate warm winks to Bosnian old acquaintances. In  his particular style, there's a sort of tribute to Russia, the proud Soviet anthem rings, amid a laughable situation with the young Tsane watching libidinously to Bosa the teacher (Ljiljana Blagojevic, beautiful and then young Dolly Bell when the director debuted) take a bath through a spotting scopes. There is also a nod to the Yankee culture, with Taxi Driver images being witnessed, and mafioso Bajo (Predrag Manojlovic) wanting to build the Balkan twin towers; his love for football, with some joke regarding Ronaldinho, will not be absent either: it certainly is a Kusturica film, but is the less Kusturica of his films. Manojlovic is brought back, his usual actor, and his interpretation, full of exaggerations and histrionic excesses, is one that most feeds the criticism, a source of where drink detractors. Aleksandar Bercek brings greater balance incarnating the hyperactive and false dying grandfather, while Marija Petronijevic also scores as the beautiful Jasna, the epiphanic female of Tsane. Although even "collect" elements of previous films -the turkey from Time of the Gypsies, some melody of the same picture, usual echoes in their filmes-, this work finally can not help being a false step, a setback, as some cruelty has called it; although I do not consider this film a failure, it is definitely his least successful film, with all its gadgets and norths present, but all working with less effect than ever. Kusturica finishes his film with another element very own of him, the wedding, a double wedding, seen with the same sad result than everything else, tasteless and almost puerile, such as how the happy ending comes, as if nothing happens, as the feature itself. Yes, it is a misstep for Kusturica, but a step in false forgivable for a filmmaker who has earned surplus to be a prominent personality in the contemporary film world as he is.

Super 8 Stories (2001) - Emir Kusturica

First job of the XXI st century, and of new millennium, by the great Bosnian filmmaker Emir Kusturica, although the work, being a documentary, save such distances as nearnesses relative to a conventional feature film. After finishing his formidable comedy Black Cat, White Cat (1998), the filmmaker had ended the twentieth century and the second millennium, and three years later materializes his next film, a sort of documentary on one of which, next to the cinema, it is among his greatest passions: music. Emir Kusturica is, while an extraordinary filmmaker, a man of music, and with his band, the No Smoking Orchestra, is the protagonist of this work, which can be considered a documentary, a compilation of various aspects and details of the band that lines up the director, along with his brother. Thus, we have a particular picture, in a filmography peculiar as well, the short filmography of Balkan director, which so clearly reflects chords and feelings aimed to a same guideline, but in this film we find an exception. Kusturica was opening the XXI Century with this documentary, in which he and his band audio-visually recorded many of the moments that the group experienced through various scenarios in different places on the planet, ending up the picture being unable in this way of continuing with movie director progressions, to become more of a diary or documentary of his band.

                 

The musicians who form the band will be what the first sequences show, interspersed with clips in black and white of the childhood years of the Bosnian himself. That is  one of the stories that Kusturica inserted in his documentary, interspersing as said images of the band at various times in its tours, with the parallel story of growing infants. Among the sequences that record events outside of the band, we can highlight images in black and white just mentioned, depicting the childhood years of Emir and his brother, both members of the No Smoking Orchestra; but in other images also we can appreciate that visual treatment, ticking away and generating certain secrecy of those moments. In the same way, the treatment of closeness and simplicity is maintained as far as possible in portraying his people, his countrymen, this of course in the few segments of this type. Filmmaker speaks of his origin, of his brother, of Pushkin, of Tito, and why he considers Bosnia, Sarajevo, different than Bulgaria or other countries; in the early stages of the film, the director is telling us some of the main aspects that he considers that runs and set both its historical, social and political context, as well as its artistic feeling, with the presence of Pushkin as a luminaire. In that regard, one of the meanings of the film is also to record the evolution of the former Yugoslavia, about to become the current Bosnia and other Balkan countries. Though few, we will see sequences that summarize this historical journey, we will see a sort of audiovisual collage, historically summarizing the dying Yugoslavia, Marshal Tito, ​​indivisible-to-the-land-and-the-ruler communism; a sort of brief historical overview is appreciated.

However, the film is rather a collection, a collection of interviews with musicians, backstage moments, moments of their privacy behind racks, it feels more like a commercial product such as DVDs packs which bring certain material, with plenty unofficial information, not too public material, that make the delight of the fans of the respective artist. It is indeed the film, except for a few segments, rather than a documentary film with cinematic guidelines, a compendium, a DVD-style touring musical of the band, a musical group that the filmmaker has led around the whole world. Then, it records conversations, discussions, any eventual fight, trivial and various anecdotes, highlighting among them, when one of the band members dislocates a shoulder during a live performance. But the film is not seen as much more than that, it is as if the work does not finish taking off as more than nearly audiovisual diary, a documentary version of his band, with some additional, a few artistic sketches. Certain debate grows for this matter, known debate about exactly what place should the documentary take, if a film genre like the other ones (western, science fiction, comedy), or if it's something subordinate even to own cinema. But not entering fully to this debate, which certainly feels like another story, we see a picture that as an artistic unit, as movie brick construction, adds little, almost nothing, to the filmography and artistic growth of the filmmaker.

It is certainly a job that breaks progression, breaks the sustained growth that had been generated in his creations before Underground; is that after the last mentioned picture, they came a couple of works, a television project, the other one was a short film, and afterwards we see Black Cat, White Cat, one of the greatest creations of Kusturica. But this film brings a novelty, it is the first documentary of the Bosnian, and breaks the observed progression, because is something apart from her sister creations, perhaps influenced by the constant accusations and political harassment that his work was being more and accused of. To some point, unfortunate situation, after reaching the tops of his creative abilities as a filmmaker with works by the likes of the lately cited features, Emir seemed to decline in his normal development; and since then, with the exception of the immediately subsequent Life Is a Miracle (2004), did not Kusturica produce another of those powerful elements, such severe film constructions his tapes are. More than a decade of silence, too long for a narrator of the Balkan power and temperament. In this regard, precisely among some segment between the TV series and some short film made to a work not fully of his own, Kusturica produces his other documentary, Maradona by Kusturica, again honoring his other passion, football, and one of its greatest icons, Maradona. After his particular artistic journey, following his particular career as a creator, Kusturica seemed to set aside the purely artistic matters to honor and pay tribute to his concerns and passions, music and football.

Obviously, we will recognize during the picture reminiscences and echoes of previous works of the director, more than a familiar tune, a familiar topic that the follower of the films of the Bosnian will readily recognize. Thus, more than one of the tracks the band  performs live evoke the respective film in which it is used, we can feel the movies flowing through the documentary, with its rhythms, tones, also traditional instruments, as well as, of course, the nature or soul of the music. We will ppreciate the passion for music of the filmmaker flowing through the amalgamation of blues, folk, rock and roll, rumba, violins, accordions, among many other elements, because although film and music are different arts, a connoisseur of Kusturica films can easily get an idea of ​​the music that he would create. It is evident in the testimony of one of the band members the Gypsy pride for their music, other musicians also disowns to see on his land what he considers impostors listening reggae rhythms, considers they, Gypsy, have their own blues with Roma music. As mentioned, if we continue the obsession of labeling films, the picture could be part of the documentary, a genre that is not characterized by excessive aesthetic contributions, not in advance, so we can not continue to see the progress of the good Balkan as film maker. Except the above sequence shots of outdoors and youth, captured in black and white, the film does not set much more than a documentary about the band of one of the greatest contemporary filmmakers, who unfortunately recent years suggest sets aside that undeniable and recognized talent of his.