Two-time Cannes winner Emir Kusturica brought a happy ending to the film festival on Saturday with a boisterous Balkan romp, breaking the mould for a competition full of dark tales. "Promise Me This" is the last of 22 films to be screened in the main lineup, a day ahead of the prize ceremony.
The movie is set in a remote hamlet in the hills of Serbia, where a grandfather, grandson and his buxom teacher live an idyllic existence threatened by state officials and suitors.
The grandfather does his best to keep the invaders at bay with ingenious contraptions, but realises that his grandson Tsane will one day have to leave to seek a bride in the city. Tsane's trip leads to high-speed chases, violent shootouts and even a castration as he comes up against a band of ruthless criminals, the leader of which is played by Miki Manojlovic, a long-term collaborator with Kusturica.
Set against high-tempo music from brass bands and accordions, the movie plays on contemporary themes, including the mafia's plans to build another World Trade Center in Serbia. In one scene, two rival gangs lay their weapons down on an architect's model of the new Twin Towers.
Sarajevo-born Kusturica, vying to become the first ever director to win the Palme d'Or top prize three times, hinted he may never appear at the world's biggest film festival again. The 52-year-old took a swipe at film makers and movie goers today, saying that they often shied away from serious issues.
The 60th edition of Cannes winds up on Sunday evening, ending a 12 day movie marathon that has attracted producers, directors, thousands of journalists and some of the world's biggest stars to the southern Riviera resort. "Mogari No Mori" ("The Mourning Forest") also gets its formal red carpet premiere on Saturday. A poetic meditation on grieving and loss by Japanese director Naomi Kawase, it could scarcely be further removed from Kusturica's exuberant fantasy.