Crazy Stranger, The (Gadjo Dilo) (1998) Rating: Starring: Romain Duris, Rona Hartner, Isidor Serban Director: Tony Gatlif Category: Avant Garde, Foreign Studio: New Yorker Subtitles: English Length: 97 mins     "Heartwarming and hysterical!" -- Anita Gates, The New York Times From the director of Latcho Drom and Mondo comes a vibrant exploration of a gypsy culture that is at once seductive, mysterious, and most of all, enduring. In this bawdy and colorful tale, a young Frenchman in search of a legendary Gypsy songstress is befriended by a Gypsy community in Romania where he learns their ways of talking, drinking, dancing, cursing, and screwing. Upon wandering into the tiny village, Stephane is immediately taken in by an elderly drunken gypsy named Izidor who treats him as a surrogate son. At first the other villagers distrust and dislike him. Soon however, Stephane ingratiates himself into their community, assimilating into their world and falling in love with Sabina, a beautiful gypsy dancer whose allure is matched by her fiery personality. A wonderful comedy-drama, The Crazy Stranger is think with ambience, the most powerful passages involving a communication that goes beyond language, expressed through music, love, and, ultimately, grief.