Black Cat White Cat

One cool summer evening at a festival I met a hippy with blonde dreadlocks and an admiration for my Gogol Bordello hoodie. Her name was Amy, and as we sat and smoked under the crooked umbrella of the gaff, which was inhabited by a flock of mostly attractive foreign men dressed as old women, Rachael just having finished her Double Decker, we talked amongst other things about a shared love of gypsy swing music and she recommended a film to me called Black Cat White Cat, by Emir Kusturica. A year or so later and I've finally got round to watching it, and I'm glad I did.

The film is about two gypsy families and their connected lives in Serbia by the Danube River. It consists mainly of farcical portrayals of the gypsy community and includes hilarious characters such as Ggra Pitic, a retired gangster who speeds around the countryside in a bizzare looking wheelchair drinking whiskey and making outlandish requests (pictured above sporting his snazzy gold glasses and gold tooth). Meanwhile the two romances within the storyline unfurl, the story all the while accompanied by a sprinkling of music from Emir Kusturica's famous travelling gypsy band. Highly commendable.

Here's a taste: