Money, Money, Money, Must be Funny, in a Richer's Girl

Matko, being swindled by Dadan into losing his shirt, is forced to marry off his son Zare (Florijan Ajdini) to Dadan's pint sized sister that they all call "Bubamara (Lady Bug)." Zare, on the other hand, has eyes only for the beautiful, strong willed tomboy, Ida (Branka Katic, the sexy Serbian actress). Ida's grandmother, the owner of a local pub who has a face so grotesque that it is unforgettable, hires Black Obelisk, an incredibly fat female Elvis look-alike who sings the pop tunes of the third decade of the 20th century and pulls the nail out of the wooden pole with her behind.

The love of Zare and Ida sets the the main plot and that is just where the fun begins: Later on, two marriage officials, one drunk out of his mind, the other drugged; then, western style shoot-outs; and then, a Cinderella story.

The film is over two hours long and does not bore for a moment. Kusturica takes a simple, Fellini concept--Put as many valuable details in a single shot as you can. Non-political and without elements of tragedy (as opposed to all of his previous works), this combination of reality and a fairy tale was portrayed through a lot of models--from Romeo and Juliet, through Once Upon a Time in the West and Amarcord which covers the overall concept of a story and much more but is presented to us in Kusturica's own amazing way. This is the first of his films that I can say is truly original, that does not follow Fellini's trail, but returns to the style of storytelling and a setting he set up with his first film Do You Remember Dolly Bell. Also, together with Delicatessen (Jeunet and Caro) and few more, I consider it one of the few best films I have ever seen.

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