Matko is a small time hustler, living by the Danube with his 17-year-old son Zare. After a failed business deal he owes money to the much more successful gangster Dadan. Dadan has a sister, Afrodita, that he desperately wants to see get married so they strike a deal: Zare is to marry her.
With all of the horrible things happening in the corner of the world once known as Yugoslavia, it's a pleasant change-of-pace to discover a comedy that transpires there.
– James Berardinelli,
ReelViews,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
Bosnian-born writer-director Emir Kusturica makes raucous films so visually dense they overwhelm. But his characters, freakish or treacherous, come up wonderfully human.
– Peter Stack,
San Francisco Chronicle,
1 Jan 2000
rotten:
Lacking the emotionally charged metaphors that made Underground something more than a virtuoso Saint Vitus dance, Black Cat, White Catis determined to twist every character into an ideogram for vulgar humanity.
– J. Hoberman,
Village Voice,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
A colorful, frenetic mixture of slapstick and folklore that stands a good chance of delighting arthouse audiences the world over.
– David Stratton,
Variety,
26 Mar 2009
fresh:
As with some of Fellini's late works, the energy and inventiveness, not to mention the juicy vulgarity, are so consistent in Black Cat, White Cat that you feel you can slice into the material at almost any point.