Black Cat, White Cat

In an attempt to dissipate the criticism of national bias levied towards his depiction of Yugoslavia in Underground Emir Kusturica initially intended 1998's Black Cat, White Cat to be a light-hearted documentary about Gypsy music. However, he ended up creating a Felliniesque romantic comedy about a community of charlatans, gangsters and liars. Kusturica’s depiction of this gang of reprobates (predominantly played by non-professional actors) is reassuringly sympathetic, whilst the frenetic energy imparted by the film’s carnivalesque brand of magical realism adds an exhilarating degree of anarchy to this celebration of life on the Danube.