GITANES

Young Stephane is on a mission. He is determined to find a renowned gypsy singer somewhere in Romania.

Paris, the present. French Arab Zano suggests to the girl sharing his bed, Naïma, that they travel to Algeria. Although the music-obsessed pair are all but strangers, she agrees. They catch a train to Seville, but, travelling without tieckets, are forced off before reaching the city. Continuing on foot, Zano and Naïma discuss their Algerian ancestries: form him an anti-coloniast grandfather; for her a father who refused to acknowledge his heritage. They meet Habib and Leila, young Algerian siblings, making their way to Paris.

Zano and Naïma reach Seville. At a flamenco bar, Naïma disappears with another man. The next day, she and Zano squabble bitterly on a tain out of the city. In an unnamed Spanish port, they reconcile, then encounter Habib and Leila once more, who give the couple a note to take to Algiers asking their family to put them up. Zano and Naïma travel as stowaways on a ferrry to North Africa, but the boat goes to Morocco not Algeria. They land in Morocco; an aborted bus journey obliges them to cross a section of desert on foot, befroe another train takes them to Algiers.

Although they are taken in by Habib and Leila's family, both Zano and Naïma feel alienated from the city, with Naïma abused for not wearing a headscarf. Zano finds his grandfather's house, and breaks down when people living in it hand him mementoes of his family's time there. That night, Naïma takes part in a Sufi musical ritual in which she enters a trance-like state. the next day, the pari visit the grave of Zano's grandfather. They leave smiling. (Synopsis from Sight & Sound, 2, 2004)

The film by Algerian émigré director Tony Gatlif provides interesting comparisons with Mehdi Charef's Keltoum's Daughter in so far as both films depict home-seeking journeys that result in a sense of alienation. In Algeria, the protagonists are perceived as French rather than Algerians and, when Naïma is asked why she does not speak Arabic, she replies that nobody taught her.

The film engages with the theme of exile and migration in multiple ways: through language, the significant importance assigned to music, and through the itineraries of the protagonists, which are presented to go against the flow of a large number of North Africans who are depicted heading for Europe.

This film is one of the most unusual cinematic works you are likely to see this year, full of music, dancing, delusion, searching, and joy for the basic essence of life. It captures a sense of wilderness and desolation in the post-totalitarian era of Romania, a mixture of the wild and natural juxtaposed with the scars of incongruous political ideology. As well as some very humorous moments, this film wins a prize for most scary birth scene (CASUALTY is for wimps), best Bob Geldof imitator (the highly charismatic Birol Ünel, whose character Tchango also wins best drunken dance and best chef - what the master chefs could learn about basic cooking techniques from this guy).

Like a rich and colourful shifting tapestry or a tasty, spicy tagine, this film will bring out your inner wandering gypsy. Joyous and enlightening.

Caco (Antonia Canales) is engaged in a vengeful battle with the Caravacas family, while looking after his palsied nephew Diego (Orestes Villasan Rodriguez), when Diego?s father goes into hiding overseas after killing one of the Caravacas. Caco, a larger than life figure with a lust for life, finally tires to stop the circle of revenge killings, while desperate to protect Diego.

Ten year old Max (Oscar Copp) is an only child and is smitten by Manouche (Gypsy) jazz when he hears the guitar virtuoso Miraldo (Tchavolo Schmitt) play, in the Manouche neighbourhood of Strasbourg. He buys an old guitar and asks Miraldo to teach him. He is captivated by Swing (Lou Rech), a young gypsy girl, who is the same age as he is. He is fascinated by her charisma, self confidence and freedom and is drawn to the Manouche neighbourhood where music is an integral part of life.

A nutty fairy tale about a displaced Jewish girl who must find her place in a hostile and often surreal world. 1927, rural Russia: Little Fegele (Claudia Lander-Duke) adores her father (Oleg Yankovskiy), a cantor, and is bereft when he leaves their small town to find his fortune in America. Soon after, Fegele's grandmother hears rumors of an impending pogrom and tries to send the child to join her father. Instead, Fegele winds up alone in England, where her name is changed to Suzie. Taken in by a foster family, the withdrawn child scarcely speaks but communicates through her lovely singing voice. Years pass, and the adult Suzie (Christina Ricci) still burns with the desire to find her father in America, to which end she joins a traveling cabaret troupe. That takes her to Paris, where she meets flamboyant Russian showgirl Lola (Cate Blanchett), also an expatriate. The worldly Lola, who cultivates a flighty image but lives by the practical motto "Never look back; always go forward," takes Suzie under her wing, finding her a job at the opera and sharing tips for getting ahead. Lola sets her sights on the opera's self-centered Italian star, Dante (John Turturro), while Suzie falls for a Romany horse trainer named Cesar (Johnny Depp). Suzie feels a deep kinship with the perpetually homeless gypsies, but when Paris falls to the Nazis she's forced again to flee. It's astonishing to watch English filmmaker Sally Potter suggest lavish production values with impoverished means. Her WWII saga, which suggests the German occupation of Paris with little more than the amplified sound of marching feet, and the destruction of a luxury liner with an explosion in the ship's swimming pool, stands in stark contrast to the absurdly over-budgeted spectacle of PEARL HARBOR, which opened in the US on the same day.

Arap Sado, sokaktaki egemenli?ini ailenin küçük o?lu Salih'e b?rak?r. Ancak Salih bu görev için henüz haz?r de?ildir. Metropolün arka sokaklar?ndan birinde ya?anan bu karma?ada Salih, Tina'ya a??k olur.

A Romani proverb declares, "You cannot walk straight when the road bends."

http://www.ce-review.org/00/41/kinoeye41_partridge.html