Black Cat, White Cat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Black Cat, White Cat | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover |
|
| Directed by | Emir Kusturica |
| Produced by | Karl Baumgartner Maksa Catovic |
| Written by | Emir Kusturica Gordan Mihic |
| Starring | Bajram Severdzan Srđan Todorović Florijan Ajdini Branka Katic |
| Music by | Nele Karajlić Voja Aralica Dejo Sparavalo |
| Cinematography | Thierry Arbogast with help from Michel Amathieu |
| Editing by | Svetolik Zajc |
| Distributed by | Focus Features (in USA) |
| Release date(s) | 1998 |
| Running time | 135 min. |
| Language | Romani |
| Budget | ??? |
| IMDb profile | |
Crna mačka, beli mačor in Serbian, or Black Cat, White Cat in English, is a Serbian comedy/romance movie directed by Emir Kusturica in 1998. It won the Silver Lion for best direction at the Venice Film Festival.
[edit] Plot
Matko is living as a small-time Roma salesman and profiteer with his son Zare by the River Danube. He has plans to acquire a whole train of smuggled fuel, which he finds at cut-price. An ally of his named Dadan, a rich, fun-living, drug-snorting gangster type who has a harem, juggles grenades and cheats at cards, however, glitches up the deal, meaning that Matko owes Dadan a great deal of cash. Matko cannot afford to pay, so Dadan makes a deal whereby Afrodita, Dadan's midget sister, and Matko's son, Zare, get married and the slate is wiped clean. However, Zare is in love with Ida, a barmaid who works in an establishment run by her Roma grandmother, Sujka, and Afrodita is waiting for the man of her dreams. Dadan coerces Afrodita into marrying by dunking her down a well, while Zare first learns of the scheme to marry him off from Ida, who had overheard Dadan and Matko plotting it in the restaurant where she works.
The two reluctantly endure the wedding ceremony, which Dadan refuses to postpone after the apparent death of Zarije, Matko's father and Zare's grandfather. Zare is dismayed, since he wants to leave the place, and had hoped that the required mourning period for his beloved grandfather would give him the opportunity to get away, and thus avoid being married off against his will. Ida and Sujka provide the catering for the wedding, and Ida is upset at seeing her beloved married off to someone else. By contrast, Dadan is really enjoying himself. However, the bride runs away mid-ceremony, pursued by Dadan and Matko. She stumbles across a six-foot plus giant (whose grandfather, Grga Pitic, a wheelchair-bound old gangster, wants him to get married), who is willing to protect her from her villainous brother, and the couple fall instantly in love. The old gangster forces Dadan, who had once worked for him, to accept the match.
The groom meanwhile conspires with Sujka and Ida to bring Dadan down a peg, and rigs the outhouse so that the seat would come apart. While the preparations for the wedding ceremony of Afrodita and Grga Veliki, her giant fiancé, are being conducted, Sujka serves the unsuspecting Dadan a drink spiked with something that would give him diarrhea. Furthermore, Grga Pitic apparently dies, and Dadan and Matko hide his body in the attic, where Zarije's body is also hidden. However, the two corpses soon both come back to life; they were not dead after all. They are surprised to find themselves together, as they had known before and each had thought the other was dead. During the ceremony, Dadan starts to feel uncomfortable and rushes into the outhouse ... and falls into the manure. His harem deserts him, and as he tries to clean himself off on a goose, only Matko remains loyal, and he provides Dadan with a shower from the garden hose. Zare meanwhile grabs the wedding official at gunpoint and orders him to solemnize his marriage with his sweetheart, Ida, and the two sail off together on a riverboat with a fistful of cash stashed in his grandfather's accordion, and the blessing of their respective grandparents.
There are many recurring gags throughout the film, for example a scene where a pig is devouring a rusty old Trabant, and the appearance of the titular two cats (a black one and a white one), who end up as the only witnesses to Zare and Ida's wedding. Also, Grga Pitic is obsessed with the last line in the film Casablanca, "this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," which he says to Zarije, his former rival, at the end, after both came back from having apparently died.
Only Italians and Yugoslavians understood that the film is strongly inspired by one of the best Italian comics, Alan Ford by Roberto Raviola and Luciano Secchi. In a scene of the film you can clearly see one of the characters reading an issue of the Yugoslavian version of Alan Ford.
[edit] Cast
- Bajram Severdzan - Matko Destanov
- Srđan Todorović - Dadan Karambolo
- Branka Katić - Ida
- Florijan Ajdini - Zare Destanov
- Ljubica Adzović - Sujka
- Zabit Memedov - Zarije Destanov
- Sabri Sulejman - Grga Pitić
- Jasar Destani - Grga Veliki
- Salija Ibraimova - Afrodita
[edit] External links
|
Films by Emir Kusturica
|
|---|
| Do You Remember Dolly Bell? • When Father Was Away on Business • Time of the Gypsies • Arizona Dream Underground • Black Cat, White Cat • Super 8 Stories • Life Is a Miracle • Maradona • Promise Me This |
