Balkan romp brings happy ending to dark Cannes

CANNES, France, May 26 (Reuters) Two-time Cannes winner Emir Kusturica brought a happy ending to the film festival today 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.

''I was so many times here,'' he told reporters. ''This is becoming much too much. Probably I will be making some more movies in my life, but if I'm going to be competing, I'm not quite sure,'' he said.

''CRAZINESS'' He described his method of film making, saying that it was as if each film was part of a single, bigger movie.

''I spoke once with a psychiatrist who told me that it's like craziness is observed by the crazy guy,'' he added.

The 52-year-old took a swipe at film makers and movie goers today, saying that they often shied away from serious issues.

''Today, even if we are older, we are becoming more like global retarded teenagers who don't ask questions, who don't ask deep questions, and I'm still trying to do a little bit of this.'' The 60th edition of Cannes winds up tomorrow 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 today.

A poetic meditation on grieving and loss by Japanese director Naomi Kawase, it could scarcely be further removed from Kusturica's exuberant fantasy.

The film, shot in near-documentary style, portrays the relationship between an old man still mourning his long-dead wife and a young assistant in his rural nursing home, who is struggling with a loss of her own.

The old man, played by non-professional actor Uda Shigeki and the young assistant Machiko, played by Machiko Ono, are forced to spend a gruelling night lost in the forest but the film ends on a note of near-religious hope and transcendence.

It follows several other films in the festival that have examined loss and mourning, including South Korean director Lee Chang-dong's ''Secret Sunshine'', the Romanian film ''4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 days'' and Russia's ''The Banishment''.

Reuters PY RS1718