Review: Black Cat White Cat

Genres are bitches. If you assign one to a movie people will start to expect all sorts of things. When you call it a thriller, the audience will expect people to die. When it's called a romcom, kissing is to be expected. And if you call your movie Faster, Pussycat, Kill! Kill!... Well, you get the point.

But the one genre that defies this notion is comedy. Simply put: if a comedy is funnier then another comedy, it is a better comedy. A scarier thriller is not a better thriller per se, a more dramatic drama does not make a better drama by default, but a comedy HAS to make you laugh as much as possible. Whatever it takes. And while Black Cat, White Cat might not be brilliantly on a purely cinematic level, it made me almost crap my pants with laughter every time I've seen it. And I've seen it three times now.

The movie, which is set somewhere in Eastern Europe, is about a father and a son, both gypsies. The father is a bit of a blundering small-time crook, who always sees his good intentions go wrong. After a particularly daring plan has gone wrong, he has to marry his son Zare to the sister of the man who screwed him over. But Zare isn't really eager to do that, since the girl in question is about half his height. It also involves an old man who constantly drives around in what looks like a stripped-down T-Ford, a woman who can pull nails from wooden boards with her ass and an orchestra in a tree. And a wedding where everything gets smashed, the bride runs off and the marriage commissioner is a junkie. And a pigs eats a car.

The movie doesn't really make sense, but it doesn't matter. It's not even trying to. Instead, what we get is a complete mess of slapstick, gypsies, AWESOME music and just plain hilarity. The atmosphere is pretty much what you would get if Laurel and Hardy would go to Hungary: light and funny, with nothing larger then a table surviving until the end of the movie. The movie is also genuinely funny, something that is actually very rare for movies labeled as "comedy". The humor might not be too sophisticated, but it's never vulgar or cheap either. Just plain fun.

 Random goats are always the best goats.

I guess that's the only thing you have to know about the movie: it's fun. It's incredibly much fun, in fact. The rest hardly matters. If you want to really laugh your ass off at a movie once, don't hesitate to track this one down.

Alias

P.S. I would like to stop for a moment to honor a great actor and filmmaker who passed away a while ago: Dennis Hopper. He has made and acted in some of the most original and groundbreaking films ever, including Easy Rider and Blue Velvet. Besides that, he was also a great photographer. He will be missed. Rest in Peace.

On a somewhat happier note, this is my 50th post on the weblog. I hope people have as much fun reading it as I have writing it.

This song fits the atmosphere of the movie absurdly good. So good, in fact, that if you like the song I'm pretty sure you will like the movie. Drunken gypsies, hurrah!