It's not a particularly dynamic film, but I liked Kusturica's compact camera moves and bleary sense of whimsy.

This charming saga, winner of the top Cannes Film Fest award, tells the story of one family in Yugoslavia circa the eraly 1950s, when politics invased every aspect of life.

A beautifully observed, impeccably performed piece of Chekhovian drama in which a boy, his family and society all sleepwalk through the nightmare of Yugoslavia's Titoist reformation.

Karanovic turns Kusturica's tendency to make an epic out of everything he touches into something that's worth the agonies of his extended sentimentality.