Time of the Gypsies (1988) Reviews

I already saw this movie but, since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out again. First of all, in the 90's, Kusturica was one of the most important directors in the world and I was a big fan of his work. Unfortunately, we haven't heard much from him since the beginning of the 00's and that's really too bad. Coming back to our main feature, well, I have to admit that I didn’t remember a single thing about the damned thing when I was rewatching it which wasn’t a really good sign, to be honest. I mean, I did like this flick, Kusturica has a very distinct and interesting directing style but, somehow, I had a rather hard time to connect with this feature. In my opinion, the whole thing was basically some kind of dark feverish drunken nightmare which was at the same time quite mesmerizing but also rather alienating to behold. Later on, Kusturica would also make ‘Crna macka, beli macor’ and I enjoyed it more because, even though it displayed a similar chaos and hysteria, the tone was just much lighter and even sometimes downright hilarious. In this case, you didn’t get a romanticized depiction of the Gypsies. I mean, there was in fact some romance involved but most of it turned out to be rather dark and bleak. At least, there was another killer soundtrack by the great Goran Bregović which reinforced even more the magic realism displayed in this movie. 5 years later, Kusturica would make his only US production so far, ‘Arizona Dream’, starring no one less than Johnny Depp, and the damned thing turned out to be quite marvelous, by far my favorite movie from this director. Anyway, to conclude, even though it didn’t completely blow me away, it was still a very good drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Emir Kusturica’s work.

The journey that a young gypsy, from the lands of Yugoslavia to the north of Italy, leaving the way a sister and a girlfriend in his hometown, served the Yugoslav director Kusturica to sign his film more bitter. Keep in mind the magic realism and music Zangana, but the story is more pessimistic and not so funny. However, when after half an hour I realized that I was not at a comedy, I drifted through the labyrinth that weaves Kusturica to the actor, caught first in the world of the Mafia, which seats up anger to be the second in aboard the "company". The inner journey that has the character must be parallel to your trip to Italy, including redemption.

I love the rhythm, how they deceive us in the beginning, making us believe that we are facing a hilarious storyline, with a look magnificently photographed by Vilko Feista FILAC, but soon we began to realize how awful that is what is is telling us, for once, without a precedent friend Emir respect the work of his co-screenwriter, Gordan Mihic, and limited to narrate the fate of the poor boy in love with Azra, reared with infinite love for his grandmother Hatidza, and will gradually fall into the clutches of that gansterzuelo, Ahmed, dedicated to the most shady businesses. Kusturica shamelessly celebrates the lifestyle of those gypsies of former Yugoslavia, people marked by a fatalistic sense of existence, but clings to life experience with a sense of celebration and fun enviable. It would still be critical, and shows us the consequences, without delving into the causes, ie, how some Gypsies have chosen to exploit the weakness of his fellows and make a living, as best they could. All the characters are few survivors, persons to whom the wheel of fate has placed in different crossroads, without any moral condemnation, making us see that even the good ones are always good, nor the bad so bad.

In a story more or less conventional, is inserted a set of features, the Perhan telekinesis, healing powers of the grandmother, several levitations, phantoms, a surreal world that is confused with reality, but never separating the two spheres, but in a cluster quantum essence of magical realism Gabo, Miguel Angel Asturias and Uslar Pietri. Everything is designed to produce us sensations, not leave us indifferent: we are amazed, laugh, cry, ultimately, live. We do not even confuses the music of Bregovic, limited essentially to adapt popular songs Gypsies without imposing upon the narrative itself (one of the contentious points in the films of Sarajevo).

To finish, I would remind the protagonist, Davor Dujmovic (also found in Father Was Away on Business and Underground) and his unfortunate end of the thirty years before hanging himself during the OTAN bombing in Slovenia, which leads to a unfortunate coincidence with a scene from the movie.