Gadjo dilo

Released 1998
Stars Dan Astileanu, Ovidiu Balan, Romain Duris, Rona Hartner, Izidor Serban
Directed by Tony Gatlif

GADJO DILO is the latest from director Tony Gatlif, who made a splash with his musical documentary LATCHO DROM. Our hero, the Frenchman Stéphane, arrives in Bucharest on a personal quest. He has traveled East to find a Gypsy singer, Nora Luca, who has become an obsession. He is taken in by an old Gypsy, Izidor, sort of a bigger-than-life Zorba type, who sees Stéphane as a son replacement while his own offspring is in jail. The hard-drinking, lustful Gypsies are distrustful at first, thinking this gadjo dilo ("mad foreigner") will make off with their chickens. He wins them over little by little, and they learn it's not the chickens that interest him. He falls for a feisty, foul-mouthed dancer named Sabina who looks a bit like Drew Barrymore in pigtails and babushka. Predictably, before long Stéphane is swilling vodka to excess, folk dancing and swearing like no Parisian. He and Sabina can also be seen running naked through the forest. Nora Luca? Who's she? Things eventually turn dark, as the repressed hatred of the Gypsy tribes erupts in violence. GADJO DILO is short on narrative but long on local color. The story may not be terribly compelling, but the sights and sounds of Gypsyville are vivid and pungent.

Summary by Jim Byerley