Black Cat White Cat review

If you think every film from the Balkans is bound to be heavy-going, then you haven't seen maverick Emir Kusturica at work. From Underground (which dealt with the violent history of former Yugoslavia), to Arizona Dream (Johnny Depp as an inventor of flying machines), the Palme d'Or winner's films are energetic and often as surreal as Twin Peaks.

Here he concentrates on the shenanigans of a band of Slavic gypsy gangsters roaming the banks of the Danube: colourful doesn't begin to describe it as the plot races along, involving double-crosses, shotgun marriages, midgets, giants and gangsters who rise from the dead. It's ridiculous and self-indulgent, but Kusturica is so skilful, conjuring up one sweeping, sumptuous set-piece after another, that you can't help but go along for the ride.