Product Details

• Actors: Bajram Severdzan, Srdjan Todorovic, Branka Katic, Florijan Ajdini, Ljubica Adzovic
• Directors: Emir Kusturica
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: Bulgarian, German, Serbo-Croatian
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Polygram USA Video
• VHS Release Date: July 18, 2000
• Run Time: 127 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00003UC5N
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,097 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

"I don't give a shit about death!" exclaims an old man as he rides in an open car along the Serbian Danube, accompanied by his grandson and a big, lively band of musicians. The man has just been liberated from a hospital, and his vulgar ebullience reflects director Emir Kusturica's own insistently sunny mood. The story centers around a small-time con man whose get-rich-quick schemes involve him with a coked-up, disco-dancing gangster and the aging local Mafia don. But this is a Rube Goldberg type of Gypsy Mafia, complete with train robberies (the entire train, not just the stuff in it), escapes from arranged marriages, and corpses kept in an attic under precariously balanced slabs of ice. The film's two and a quarter hours of unrelenting zaniness are more exhausting than uplifting. In Serbo-Croatian and Romany. -Ken Marks
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Product Description

Black Cat White Cat [VHS]

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kusturica does it again, but better, March 12, 2000

By	L. Boskovic "loreta" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Kusturica began focusing on the Roma culture most prominently in his movie, "Time of the Gypsies," revisiting this theme in later works either indirectly ("Arizona Dream") or with unabashed flirtation ("Underground"). In "Black Cat, White Cat," these talented musicians are center stage, and you won't take your eyes off them from the time they are tied up in a tree until they march off with their infectious brass beat in the sunset.

The plot follows a young Roma who falls for the village tomboy, but is promised to marry a lovely, albeit height-impaired, ganster's daughter as a result of a poker game. The young couple attempts to circumvent this arrangement by slipping away from their fate much like the silver fish in "Arizona Dreams." The high-charged get-me-out-of-here wedding scene is driven by the gypsy music which feeds the young couple's desperation, the ganster's testosterone levels, and the guests' oblivion, all of which is done very tongue-in-cheek by caricaturizing aspects of Balkan culture. If you like your humor black, you'll dig this movie.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blows your mind and then puts it all back together again, September 3, 2001

By	pootamadre - See all my reviews

One of the most purely entertaining and recommendable movies I have ever seen, "Black Cat White Cat" is a sensory overload.

Start with the stunning visuals. The ramshackle, anarchic sets are as exotic as have ever been captured on film, somewhere in the same neighborhood as the bar in "Star Wars," the villages in the Mad Max films, and the town from "Welcome to Woop Woop" (that last reference is probably more obscure that "Black Cat White Cat").

The relentless story set against that backdrop is as multifaceted, kinetic, and darkly comic as anything Quentin Tarantino has been associated with, albeit here everything is linear and easy to follow. Not getting into the details -- although it would be fair to call this some sort of a gangster movie -- this film is loaded with storytelling cliches which thankfully breathe new life when set among the gypsies. The plotlines weave together in a logical, satisfying way, although you probably won't catch onto just what all those plots are until late in the game. And the whole time, Kusturica and company move things along with a sense of slapstick comic timing that harks back to the Marx Brothers.

The knockout punch -- indeed, the soul of "Black Cat White Cat" -- is the music. The manic gypsy soundtrack shifts from sweet and melodic to crazed and bombastic, but always with enough of a smirking streak to maintain the film's air of goofy mischief. This is a movie which stays coherent due to the sheer force of its own whimsy. [A side note, since everybody who sees the movie will walk away humming this song: "Pit Bull," the soundtrack's only detour off of gypsy music, is an unlikely pop hit (it was huge in Europe, where people actually SAW this movie) but taken with the film's hilarious and memorable context, it works perfectly. Not so on just the CD soundtrack, however; I found myself needing the disco gangster visual, letting me know that it was Kusturica's synthesis and not just the song that made the moment.] Anyway, this is an excellent soundtrack that begs to be bought, but to the best of my knowledge and experience, it is impossible to find in the US (remember that next time you travel to Europe, and don't forget to look under "Chat Noir Chat Blanc").

All in all, this is a true gift of a movie, and for my money, a better introduction to Emir Kusturica than the more serious (but very good) "Underground." Here, you're pretty much guaranteed a smile on your face -- and maybe the beginning of a beautiful friendship (with the film).

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Black cat white cat, November 30, 2001

By	Emilia Palaveeva "ema-in-seattle" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

THis is one of the funniest movies I have recently seen. Set in the mid ninties in Serbia, the movie is about a family of fuel-smuggling gypsies during the embargo against Yugoslavia. When the entrepreneurial, but somewhat stupid main character gets cheated to buy water instead of fuel, all hell breaks loose. In order to save his skin, he has to marry off his son to the midget sister of a local "mafia" boss, while hiding from the world that his own father has died. After an hour and a half of pure pleasure and fun for the viewer, all the conflicts that arise from this situations are happily resolved.

A comedy of situations, Black Cat White Cat is brilliant and will jerk tears of laughter from your eyes. The music is amazing as well.