Rent Time of the Gypsies (1988)

Accordion to Kusturica - Time of the Gypsies review by griggs

Emir Kusturica remains difficult to place. I loved Underground; When Father Was Away on Business left me cold. Approaching this felt less like anticipation and more like cautious negotiation.

The politics don’t resolve cleanly. Casting around 500 Roma, shooting in Romani, and building from real conversations all count. But the film still leans on theft, superstition, and organised begging as its shorthand for Roma life. It’s hard to tell whether Kusturica is observing old European stereotypes or quietly enjoying them. His sympathy for the characters is evident; for the community, murkier.

That said, Time of the Gypsies is far better company than Father’s cool distance, and much closer to Underground’s unruly carnival spirit. Think feral folk-tale melodrama: scams, curses, family chaos, accordion-fuelled mayhem, full circus-in-a-storm.

The catch: well over two hours, and a film besotted with its own noise. Could’ve run the credits twenty minutes earlier and lost nothing.

A walk on the Wild Side - Time of the Gypsies review by PM

I wanted to see this film because I'd read somewhere that it features authentic Balkan folk music, and from this point of view it was a little disappointing as although the music is great, there's not really a lot of it. While watching the film I thought it was pretty harsh and unbelievable, but it's one of those that you think about a good deal afterwards and right now I feel it was a heroic and quite succesful attempt at sharing something quite difficult. There's a point in the film where the hero makes a decision which is almost impossible to credit, given my own cultural milieu, one of those decisions which appears to have irreversible and horrific consequences. I'm sure I will be asking myself for the rest of my life whether his actions at the end of the film redeemed his honour and dignity, and whether indeed honour and dignity are worth more than overcoming suffering. I hope I haven't given too much away. There are some great acting performances and despite it's ascent/descent into the mystical/quasi miraculous, the film for me conveys some important truths that may still be alive today.