Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

lasttimeisaw UNDERGROUND, Serbian boy-wonder Emir Kusturica's fifth feature saga sanctifies him as a lofty two-time Palme d'Or winner, a coterie whose total number has just recently been changed to eight with Ken Loach's I, DANIEL BLAKE (2016). Traversing over half a century, from WWII in 1941 to the Yugoslav Wars in 1992, UNDERGROUND is Kusturica's passion project which orchestrates his surrealistic idiosyncrasy to the full bloom under a vast canvas of historical reality (using, sometimes tampered, real-life archives). A central triad of this epic is Marko Dren (Manojlovic), Petar "Blacky" Popara (Ristovski) and Natalija Zovkov (Jokovic), Marko and Blacky are best friends, communist warriors during Nazi's invasion of Belgrade, both fall under the spell of Natalija, a theatre actress has no political predilection and only wants to survive in the war-torn quicksand.From the onset of Part One: War, an air-raiding sequence in the zoo which will precipitate the concern from animal-loving viewers, Kusturica teasingly vouchsafes the overall tenor of his approach: anarchic, droll, perverse, intermittently delirious and fantastical, while the narrative jumps with an irregular heartbeat sometimes can be bewildering and far too outlandish to elicit viewer's investment, but one can hardly resist its energetic defiance and raucous roughhouse, as well as the infectious Csárdás dance, all aligns with a strenuous, mostly studio-bound mise-en- scène. The biggest conceit appears in Part Two: Cold War, Marko's elaborate whopper that keeps Blacky and others, including Marko's stuttering younger brother Ivan (Stimac), living underground for 20 years in a huge cellar, the time now is 1961, by telling them and consistently providing evidences that WWII is still ongoing and they must hide and do their best job, manufacturing weapons, to support their country. Meantime, on the ground, Marko and Natalija become an official item and ascend on their rungs of political ladder, to a point Marko becomes one of Tito's closest associates. A rapier-like progression of Marko from a hot-blooded freedom-fighter to a profiteering warmonger astringently undermines the overarching patriotism. Both Marko and Natalija are afflicted by their mounting guilt over the web of lies, and their frailties start to become their undoing during the subterranean wedding of Blacky's son Jovan (Todorovic), who has never seen daylight in his entire life, and soon would wish that he had never been to the outside. The wedding is a cacophony of celebration and ruckus, flying bride, chimp-in-a-tank and a rotating band never ceases to fashion razzmatazz of brassy euphoria. The ensuing Blacky's revelation of the real world coincides with a wry and travestied movie- shooting of his heroic past, where dead ringers accentuate its grotesque brutality; on another subplot, Ivan also walks close to reality, but what he finds is a series of dusty underground passages leading to Berlin and Athens, which is even wackier than his own backstory. In its final chapter, Part Three: War, the time-frame forwards to 1992, Marko and Natalija meet their comeuppance when warfare again sets its ravage in motion upon this troubled land, Blacky can only reminisce about his deceased friends and love with a fallen Jesus Christ adjacent, eventually, in the dream-like coda, merriment drifts offshore, into oblivion, as all the victims of the war, after all, the satire is on ourselves, we are all, more or less, are complicit in our self-destructive thirst to destroy and conquer, whether it is power, money, or woman. A meritorious enterprise from Kusturica, performance-wise, Manojlovic and Ristovski are two cracking examples of lunacy and gallantry on screen, but Ristovski is less consistent hampered by Natalija's ambivalent temperament. UNDERGROUND is dazzlingly gonzo, but pungently allegorical, it can never appease all those who are involved, but should be prized for its boldness and ingenuity, but a Palme d'Or? Maybe its 1995 line-up is not that impressive in retrospect.

Branko Petrovic Era There is some rumors that no one can betray you as someone really close, like godfather, or that there is no war if brother fight each other.This is at first story about friendship between two mostly different characters placed in two main roles, Crni and Marko, chasing for love of one woman, Natalia, which in one great musically color-full scene declares them as "there can be made one great made from two of you". In a drama of World War II placed in Belgrade, they will be fighting against Nazi Germans, for freedom and for her love. Lot of black humor comic scenes in war colored places of Balkan, filmed from genius Emir Kusturica, made this movie "must see" if u "wanna understand Balkan soul".

Terence Frederick Kusturica takes his imagination to the brink, by giving the audience a dark- humor at the WWII. No wonder the movie had won the Palme D'or at Cannes. I didn't have the knowledge of the history or the political piece in the movie but still the story is screen played in a very different, still understandable manner. Felt boring at parts like the song and long-dance sequence and that comedy slap-sticks parts within. Still must admit that i broke to laugh at other parts and music was a treat. An emotional ending with a tint of obscure comedy does give a perfect cover to the script. I loved the liner which translates to "No war is a war until a brother kills a brother" towards the movie end. The bottom line : A different kind of crude humor (slightly boring at parts), wickedly satirical, emotional movie.

Luciano Marzo I thoroughly enjoyed parts of this film. It has moments of pure brilliance and hilarity; however, I'm afraid it's a movie that has great scenes but doesn't really work as a whole. There's a great deal of spirit and ambition in this film, but it just lags a lot in scenes, and the longer you watch it, the more it starts to lose focus, and much of the humor that made it so enjoyable towards the beginning. I did enjoy its unstructured plot, but interest level starts to wane after about the 2 hour mark. This one definitely could have used some cutting; however, this film does take place underground, and the visuals, the music and the setting make for a great atmosphere and a plot that is always unpredictable and filled with adventure, and fun; however, if you want to watch a Kusturica film, I'd go with his other one I've seen: Arizona Dream. It's equally bizarre but it has a much more engaging and interesting story.