I would like to improve my poor knowledge of Romanian cinenatography, so any suggestion is more than welcomed (only thing: I already know Train de Vie). Same things as regards Moldova, which I am going to visit next week, though I guess it is much more difficult. Thank you all in advance.
shareI can recommend " Bless you Prison".
During her imprisonment in a Romanian Communist camp, Nicoleta Valery Grossu found God and survived the horrible cruelty of her captors. This program, which tells her story from the time she was taken from her home and thrown in jail without a trial, details the endless interrogations and tortures she endured, her ability to continue to speak her mind under severe duress and her newfound faith that enabled her to survive unimaginable conditions.
Also I can recommend "Amen" there are some romanian actors in this movie but is a very good movie.
How the Nazi Party concocted its "Final Solution," how much other countries really knew about the burgeoning disaster and the role the Vatican may have played during Hitler's heinous reign in Europe are the subjects, among others, of this film based on the play "The Representative" and directed by Costa-Gavras. Mathieu Kassovitz stars as Riccardo Fontana, a Jesuit priest fighting Nazism. Ulrich Tukur and Ulrich Muhe also star.
I recomend Balanta one of the best ...if you like black-comedy
And where do you live Simon....?
I live in the weak and the wounded ... Doc.!!
I recommend "An Unforgettable Summer".
shareLuca ,
Here you have some Romanian movies . I consider them at least interesting and I hope you`ll find them somewhere . Not all of them are fully understandable to the foreigners , but for someone who is interested in Romania , they are just good .
- Prin Cenusa Imperiului
- Osanda
- Ion - Blestemul pamantului , blestemul iubirii
- Felix si Otilia
- Ilustrate cu flori de camp
- Patima
- Dincolo de pod
- Senatorul Melcilor
- Occident
- Concurs
- Operatiunea Monstrul
- Furia
- A fost sau n-a fost
- Nemuritorii
- Stefan Luchian
And a film from Moldova : "Gypsies Are Found Near Heaven" by Emil Loteanu ; In Romania this film is known with the name " Satra " .
Seventeen years ago , on December 22th , the history of Romania changed for ever . At this moment , the best film about the Revolution is "Hirtia va fi albastra" by Radu Muntean . Another good movie on this subject is "A fost sau n-a fost ?" by Corneliu Porumboiu . Everything else was done about those days is crap .
shareI finally managed to see A Fost Sau N-a Fost? in a Belgian cinema. Though it is far from being a masterpiece, I still found it a good movie - I hope I will have the time to write something more specific about it.
shareIt`s good to have here a new message from the one that started this thread ;
"A fost sau n-a fost" isn`t a masterpiece ; it rather is a little gem . We liked it here in Romania first of all for its style , so different ( much fresher , and realistic ) than what can be found in other Romanian films made after 1989 . The film might look grey , but this is because it takes place in one of the poorest towns in Romania , Vaslui . It is Porumboiu`s hometown , his father being one of the richest men there ( Adrian Porumboiu , a former well-known football referee ) . With all that gloomy athmosphere , the film catches many Romanian "specifics" - e.g. the guy that wants to use the camera handhold , because it`s "modern" that way . This simple fact reminds us that even the poorest Romanian is interested in what`s new and up-to-date : in this country many don`t have enough food to eat , but everybody has a TV set or a mobile phone !
And the vision that Corneliu has on the ( still ) mysterious Revolution is an unusual one .
P. S. This film hasn`t been shown yet in Vaslui , the town where the action is set . The last cinema there closed some time ago , because people are too poor to afford buying tickets ! The author ( C. P. ) said that is his intention to rent a hall somewhere in the town , so that those living there to be able to see the film , and , why not , recognize themselves in it .
How about "Glissando"? It's one of Daneliuc's best films, isn't it?
I also recommend "Iacob".
"Pas in Doi" - broke my heart.
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
Oscar Wilde
I can`t tell too many things about Daneliuc`s films , because I never was patient enough to see at least one of them entirely . The reason ? I don`t know it very well ... Maybe Daneliuc is not on my ( cinematic ) taste . Or it`s because I never liked him as a person . A rather hysterical guy .
<< "Pas in Doi" - broke my heart. >>
This film was like a ray of light in those years . I was very young when I first saw it - skipping some classes with my school mates - and realized it was different , fresh and with many hidden meanings . One of Dan Pita`s best . It`s a pity that these days neither the director , nor the actors aren`t that interesting anymore . Claudiu Bleontz became a very annoying guy . I am not sure that we can call him " an actor " anymore ...
Damn, girl, d'you have a bone to pick with every actor and director?
Personally I don't give a damn about someone's personality and tantrums as a private person. After all, what remains is their work to speak for them.
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
Oscar Wilde
Quote : " ... d'you have a bone to pick with every actor and director? "
The answer is : No . It`s a matter of likes and dislikes . It`s the reason this board of discussions was made for .
you have to see "Filantropica". i think is the best romanian film ever made!
shareI know that "Filantropica" had good reviews , but I haven`t seen it yet , that`s why I didn`t mention it . Anyway , the list hasn`t close yet .
Andrei , puteam sa-ti raspund pe romaneste , dar politicos e sa inteleaga toti ce se discuta pe aici !
Filantropica is the best Romanian movie ever.
shareAnd another good ( old ) movie with Mircea Diaconu : " Mere rosii " ( Red Apples ) . Mircea plays a doctor , totally different from those in " The Death of... " . Does anyone remember the scene in which an angry guy ( husband of a patient ) throws him out the window ?
shareFilantropica is indeed very good from a visual quality and content perspecitve but it amplifies the "Romanian's are beggars" stereotype too much.
shareI finally saw "Filantropica" . I enjoyed it alot ! It`s more than just a comedy . Dinica`s character is the impersonation of the evil that still rules our country . Maybe they should have named him Mr. Secu !
The film was made in 2001 , that`s why Nae could "afford" so many ( nice ) stray dogs to be "characters" in his film ... They are fewer now in Bucharest . Anyway , I loved the ending !
Bravo to Nae Caranfil for making this film . It`s obvious that he inherited the love for cinema from his father , Tudor Caranfil ...
I agree, Filantropica is one of the best Roumanian movies ever made. It is with Gheorghe Dinica, one of the best living Roumanian actors.
shareI would recommend you The Way I Spent the End of the World (Cum mi-am petrecut sfarsitul lumii). This film is made by a young director, Catalin Mitulescu. I really liked this movie. I think foreigners will like this movie because it's not just a film about the communist era in Romania. The film is beautiful and bittersweet.
shareAn overlooked Romanian film (Patul conjucal- 1993) or in English "conjucal bed" is set right after Nicolae Cescescu's downfall where the country is in a shock transition to an open free market society from communism .
Like most Romanian films i have seen it's a bit of black comedy ,and it deals with real life and a day to day struggles most Romanians faced trying to maker ends meet .
It's not avalible on DVD or VHS in Europe or North America i saw it on TV many years back ,if you know someone in Romania see if you can track it down .
Sorry Luca, but there are no good Romanian movies to this day. Moldavian women, however, could be quite enjoyable.
"Train de la Vie" is not bad at all, but it's French, only the director and some extras are Romanian.
confuse the cat
Maybe you are too young to know the good movies but there are, literally, a few dozen of good movies that were made during the comunist years....ever heard of Actorul si sabaticii? how about Reconstituirea or Ilustrate cu flori de cimp, or Septembrie and many others....
shareMy point exactly.... I remember very well the terrible films made in Romania in the communist years, and it only proves my point. Starting in the late Seventies, those so-called films were just about the only things shown on TV and in cinemas, with a few exceptions (such as "Star Wars" or "Superman").
"Actorul si salbaticii" ?!? "Reconstituirea"?!? "literally, a few dozen good movies" ????
Gimme a break... Go back and watch some examples of real cinema (such as Welles, Hitchcock, Wilder, Ford, Huston, Kubrick etc.) then try and compare any of them to the crap you've mentioned.
confuse the cat
I'm loving how you sport a Romanian-esque username and yet you ceaselessly diss your own country. It's rather pathetic. I'm starting to question what craphole of a region you come from.
shareRomanian-esque is nothing. That's what he is saying about the movies. I would also recomend the best music in the worls called manele. As same in quality as the movies madeinromania.
Yeah, we're trying. Yet we miss something called imagination. And we think as back in commiera. THe tehnique used in making this moveis is absolete and it's not used in US since 1943. Post sincron. OK It's not used nowadays but still. THe money are coming from the gov and they have to kiss up a little.
I would say that "operatiiunea monstru" is my favourite romanian movie and this not makes it good. The best audience in Romania ever on foreign and domestic are "GArcea si oltenii" and "Lacrimi de Iubire". The first one is aftre a tv comediens whao are mostly inspired by Benny Hilll on a sluttier level. As in the Aristocrats, only for the not so brite. The second one is a sop opera made movie. They have gone in the first two places in the romanian boxoffice ever [us movies included].
sa that is the ideea. Romanian movies are not funny. We miss that as a nation. He have something elsecalled making fun of it aka "caterinca". nothing else. The actors are not believeble. They are all theatre actors who cannot pass on screen. We have no movie acting schools.
Quote : " We miss that as a nation "
Do we miss the sense of humour ? No , you`re so wrong . The real problem is that the funniest people stay anonymous , while so many ( mostly ) untalented boys and girls get to the acting schools aiming only to become famous - being helped for this by the "pile" ( connections ) system . There are good young actors too , but they hardly get to show their value to the wide audiences ( one example : "Mondenii" on Prima TV - it`s a little show , but what a waste of comic talent ! ) . In our country the sources for financing film industry are insufficient , and so many bad ( but "famous" ) directors waste them on shameful flops , while good actors waste their talent acting in soap-operas , or staying outside the mainstream , in obscure thaters .
In Romania , the best comedy actors are either old , or dead . The young good ones still miss the good opportunities to show that we are able to do more than "caterinca" ...
I'm Romanian. I don't think this can ultimately affect my capacity to judge films good or bad. Our film industry, just like our literature, is a very good example of a small culture imagining that it punches above its weight. It doesn't. I'm not saying all Romanian films are crap, or that there haven't been A FEW quite enjoyable ones, but Romanian cinema is a national shame, because it is almost extinct.
There are a few younger wolves, like Caranfil or Puiu, who are struggling, literally busting their asses off to make a film in this country, and the most they can get is some sort of positive acknowledgement within Romania and a small portion of it abroad. For a culture that is non-English speaking to make a real name for itself, it has to promote FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION. This is why mini-countries like Denmark or Sweden have so much talent and so much going for them, despite the fact that most films that come out of there are unintelligible in the first instance and can only be watched through the doubtful mediation of translation. Romania HAS NOT promoted freedom of expression for decades, Romanians still snub parts of their own language like 'pizda ma-sii' or nudity. To have a strong film culture you not only need to remove barriers to speech, but also have at least moderately strong funding. And that inhibits and retards the potential growth of Romanian cinema even further. Romania has a National Film Board, the CNC, which just gave most of its budget on a Nicolaescu project. This guy is probably the most famous nothing in the history of cinema, famous locally of course. He directed all sorts of cheesy retakes on Dirty Harry set in pre-Communist and Communist Romania, mostly also giving himself parts in them. He's a big LOSER. And this is the man that the CNC chose to fund. I think we should either have a discerning CNC, like the French do, or have an American private funding system. This mixture is just not working.
So,
I DON'T BELIEVE there is currently a Romanian CINEMATIC CULTURE to speak of. Globally, it amounts to nothing. Quantitatively there aren't enough films being made for Romanian cinematography to be statistically significant, despite the 30 million-strong language community. Qualitatively, the funding is directed at mediocre talent, thus preventing the development of truly significant talent. The situation is dire and I don't see it recovering any time now. Cu o floare nu se face primavara =(approx) It takes more than a robin to make the winter go.
plenum , first of all , bravo for your good , easy-to-understand English .
I agree with everything you wrote , but the part where you assimilate strong language with the freedom of expression . Of course people doesn`t always speak in real life like they do at a convent , but there are too many Romanian films made after `89 in which the vulgar language is over-used .
And you enhanced a very important thing : the "market" for the Romanian films is a large one : the Romanian community in the world has 30 million people ; so many of them are eagerly awaiting for new ( and good - because there are also many "connaisseurs" ) films from their homeland .
I can't belive nobody mentioned "Morometii", my favourite romanian film.
Other good films: "Operatiunea Monstrul", "Filantropica". Also "Satra" (Tabor ukhodit v nebo) for Moldova, in fact USSR.
Oh, yes, "Operatiunea Monstrul", that film was hysterical! Remember Caragiu making his tent mate and subordinate (Moraru) tell him a story so he can fall asleep? I was in stitches watching it. Romania has such great comedic actors...
I liked "Satra" a lot, including the music (I still remember it), but I wouldn't call it a Romanian film, at least for three reasonS: it's based on Gorky's writings, it's spoken in Russian and its music is Russian too, however gypsy it may be.
"Morometii" was a very good one, indeed. Unfortunately, I watched it after I read the book, so I had a rather lukewarm reaction to it. Probably because no film, however good, can reach the level and complexity of a great book?
How about "Cel mai iubit dintre pamanteni"? Although, again, the book (or books? since it's three volumes) is brilliant, I thouoght the film wasn't too bad either.
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
Oscar Wilde
I've seen that noone added Orient Express (2004) by Sergiu Nicolaescu ... for me is one of the best movies ever made by Sergiu ...
and...
Legaturi bolnavicioase (2006) by Tudor Giurgiu .. another romanian good movie...