Black Cat, White Cat (1998) - Emir Kusturica

After the superb cinematic exercise that was Underground (1995). Emir Kusturica continues his creative activities with this new feature, although it took a few years of silence, in which there was a television series, and a short film. Underground was something huge, powerful and unstoppable, did not leave anyone indifferent to the point of the controversy generated by certain sequences, a reason for which the Bosnian announced his retirement from cinema. Fortunately, three years after he delivers this new work, one of his most famous, and one of the most recognized as well. Kusturica again shows us his people, his nation, and again the Gypsies are the people who will serve as a vehicle for everything that happens in this irreverent and delirious comedy. The filmmaker presents the story of a gypsy, a cunning individual, swindler and thief, who contracts a debt due to his illegal activities, and should see how to pay his debtor, a scary mobster. To do this, a marriage between the son of the debtor, and the younger sister of mafia fellow is arranged, and for it must overcome disparate circumstances, including passing corpses, by living men. Containing all the usual elements of Kusturica, this comedy is powerful, incisive, delirious and fun, keeps some of the guidelines of previous works, but adds some new features, always with his bizarre and sordid style, which makes him a unique contemporary filmmaker.

The beginning of the picture is usual regarding what we are accustomed with Kusturica, who prints for us a simple sketch of the village in which we enter through his story: some individuals are at a port, father and son are there, the young Zare Destanov (Florijan Ajdini) observes through some telescopes. The first thing you see is two cats on a roof, a black cat and a white cat, as well as farm animals, pets as well, common people doing everyday activities, while the father plays cards and disowns to be interrupted. It is therefore roughly what Kusturica always displays, and his funny mood will soon manifest as well as portraits of his people, when later we see Matko Destanov (Bajram Severdzan) tasting fuel and drinking it, approving it pleased; on the contrary refusing water, a figure with which we should already be shaping the people we observe, their particular environment, that place and time when the Russians are changing their water for diesel. Thus, again, we see the specialty of Kusturica, portraying with great effectiveness and credibility his land, his people, that is where lies much of the strength, power and naturalness of the images, the pictures presented to us, and the picture can be felt as part of the creation of the Bosnian, from the beginning coherent and twinned work to all creations of Kusturica.

And this time the protagonists are no longer boys discovering the world -sex sometimes, life itself in other cases, like most of his previous works-, something which by the way had already begun heatedly with Underground. This time, as then, are seedy beings our players, scammer beings, which as well shall link with other unsavory creatures, gangsters, and them together will be setting the delusional and crazy parade of occurrences in the film. Now his collection of characters adds, apart from the thief Matko, a cocaine-addict rampant: Dadan Karambolo (Srdjan Todorovic), fearsome offender, since his first appearance snorting coke, listening to music certainly not typical of his land, surrounded by attractive young ladies, appetizing females who fill his master of attentions, as he enjoys amid the hedonistic and orgiastic situations, setting a relatively new character in the very motley collection of human Balkan portraits the director displays. It's a job that largely compiles some of his previous work, elements of previous films that the one who knows his work will recognize; thus, to cite one example, we will listen to the memorable melody, melancholy waltz repeatedly heard in When Father Was Away on Business. The director also recovers some of his players in previous works, and we can recognize Ljubica Adzovic, the remembered grandmother in Time of the Gypsies, as well as Predrag Manojlovic, good Marko in Underground; Kusturica evidently builds up a kind of company of actors -as is usually called in the theater a group of interpreters-, it is always a remarkable feature in a film, it generates closeness, intimacy between actors and director, and create apparent cohesion and unity among the films that involve them.

That touch of humor typical of his will manifest, in figures of his land and his people, colored by his particular view, such a famous and renowned singer, while performing her performance, has as a corollary to his performance the unusual task of removing a nail from a beam using her buttocks, which all Romani will bet and celebrate with jubilation. Kusturica's comedy is certainly more delusional than ever in this work, with the tiny bride escaping, first hidden under a gift box, then in a walking tree stump, a sad girlfriend whose dwarfism comes from family: one character looks at a photograph of a a proud groom holding his tiny fiancee in the arm, a dwarf fiancee also. Comedy by Kusturica is one of the wildest ever seen, detail of ecstasy, the climax of dementia, at least the first one, happens of course when grandfather dies, and incredibly they take the determination to hide his death, to "keep alive" the corpse, so that the wedding is not canceled, and therefore Matko pays his debt to Dadan. But if that charge of sordidness was not enough, another elder dies, from the other family, whichever again, yes, leads them to cover the corpse with ice and pretend he's still alive. Death and life together, "living with the living, the dead with the dead," says the first elder, but this time the dead remain among the living, and not only that, the dead will rise to return to the living. A supernatural event occurs, not a strange thing to the films of Emir: both dead, improbably, deliriously, resurrect, both at once, delirium is total.

The bizarreness of the people portrayed goes beyond, given the refusal of the dwarf sister to marry, the party preparator fellows have no better idea to dip, plunge her into the water of the well of the town. But that does not stop his severe and sharp humor, when they tell his parents are watching from the sky, Dadan replies sky is clouded, they will not see anything. There will be one absurd situation after another, one grandchild carries to his grandfather a great musical entertainment, an impromptu parade band in the hospital, some nurse protests, but some bills make her consent pleased the show, which spreads throughout the facility. Again we appreciate all the strength, bizarre style of Kusturica, the deployment of color, the irrepressible dementia, delirium, things that to our Western eyes can be quirky, or strange looking people and actions, however, much of that bizarre universe is no more nor less than the reality of that world, Eastern Europe, the Balkans. This does not mean, of course, that Kusturica does not wraps all of that in his personal view, his very particular view, which indeed has a lot of bravery, of flamboyant even, as appreciated in this film. I will quote the director himself to illustrate this last statement, talking about his film: "In my last film -he said- there are elements characteristic of the war because in my country, many people took the opportunity to get rich at the expense of oil, snuff and other things. My film is like a mask behind which is difficult to recognize realistic elements, but, if pursued, there are. This is the political reading I do".

That pretty much sums up lot of described above, Kusturica actually shows us his land, with all its strengths, weaknesses, excesses (he illustrates many of these by the way), but all "encoded" in his own view, everything behind the "mask" he creates. Thus we see all the color, wildness and picturesque elements, all present in the reality of his Sarajevo, but as well nuanced with his recognized sensitivity to capture that reality, in addition to his unique sense of humor, that black and caustic humor; the latter two features are indeed maximized as ever in the present film. And very well known is that sense of mood of his, so singular, is very present in all his films, but this time the comedy is the thread that moves everything, is the frame where all actions and portraits represented are portrayed. But Kusturica's comment on his film is more in reference to the political presence which, although probably sublimated following an incident in this regard with his latest film, is not at all absent; and the Soviets, of course, have a lot to say in the area of ​​the now defunct Yugoslavia, the Balkan area where they perform this unique fuel swap for water. This is important because the summit Underground meant for Kusturica, also earned him a lot of controversy, polemic and discussions, a lot of religious and political controversy, to the point that even announced his retirement from filming; a retirement which fortunately was not so, but this situation necessarily affects in certain way in the creator, leaving his political allusions not as obvious as in previous cases; leaving therefore that comedy, now as the vehicle.

Moments of that severe and singular comedy are evident, among many other moments, when we see the good Matko wanting snatch his briefcase to a corpse hung quietly on top on a highway; an image that might seem like out of a dream, of a world of bizarre comedy, but is usual and normal for Kusturica. The Balkan continues his progression as poet image, as a creator of images, producing shots such as an elegant yacht in the water, with people dancing on it while the Blue Danube sounds. Among the many figures created by the master, we have a pig stubbornly devouring a car; the enormous pig begins by day, will continue until nightfall, and appears at other times on the film. Emir is always happy to glide subtly between reality and magic, between the realistic and the absurd, the pigs eat cars, a band of musicians playing melodies hanging from a tree like fruit, is the world of Kusturica, the real, surreal, imaginary, absurd, they all converge with astonishing naturalness. Music, so vital and important in his film works is present here again, but with a sensible variation from previous times, including some sounds, of course characteristic and typical of his land, Romani music; but also covering other beats now, some hints of techno, this mainly in the figures of Dadan and intense Ida (Branka Katic). As mentioned, the music, always so present in Kusturica pictures, is now particularly varied and abundant, and showing another of his passions, his band, which in those years was already in activity.

Interestingly Kusturica gets combined all these elements, those various figures and symbols converge, he narrates everything with an appropriate pace, frantic but steady rate, achieving a balance in his narrative, and on hilm as well. Another remarkable detail is that a sequence par excellence is always present in every work of Kusturica, this is the wedding, marriage, marital union from another optic. Event always full of symbolism, meaning and importance in his films, was never an event so focused or "inspected" as on this occasion, it was never such a central event as in the film's plot. Being one of the narrative hearts of the film, we see it in great detail all the small-town paraphernalia of a gypsy wedding, music, hubbub, animals appearing in the background -the dwarf bride herself is called goose, a bird repeatedly seen in the story-, all developed in the freedom of nature. And amid all described, the estrangement of Kusturica could not miss, the dwarf bride escapes hidden beneath a gift box, many shots are taken, a shootout amid the revelry of the wedding; It is the world of Bosnian, his painting, his portrait that presents gypsy world he loves and admires. The final is the ideal corollary of that sordid parade of figures and bravery, Dadan literally swimming in excrement, swimming in shit as he had been foretold by a character, tired of his tyranny; the resurrected elder drink, the happy couple gets married in a moving vehicle, while the legend of "happy ending" is displayed, indeed happiness exists in this quirky corner of the planet, and so it shows Kusturica.

Finally, talk about the main symbol, the two cats that constantly observed during the film, a black cat and a white cat almost always together, marking the narrative contrast and balance that we shall be understanding as the film goes by. For the follower of the work of the Balkan filmmaker, animal presence is something not only usual, but of vital importance and significance. This time, the obvious presence comes to be clearly printed mainly in those cats, those cats, which are the first image to see when Zare outlooks for his telescopes, and always appear throughout the film; in different circumstances, in different places, but always present, always silently witnessing everything, particularly one of the most critical and bizarre moments when Matko changes the ice around the body of his father. Cats always together, marking the contrast, the contradistinction, white and black, life and death (opposition on the picture plays a central role), the bride and groom. The film is a new brick for Kusturica building, always coherent and consistent in his creations, keeping his profile using actors almost unknown outside their homeland (Branka Katic is a pleasant surprise, beautiful and intense), and continues with his portrayal of his land, and Romani, with a strength and originality that make him the benchmark in the cinema of the Balkans, and of world scenario. Considered one of his masterpieces, certainly the picture contains some of the most memorable filming moments of its creator, and is a must for his follower.