“That’s life” is often heard throughout Lucian Pintilie’s adaptation of Ion Băieșu’s novel The Oak. It’s such a sweeping response to the grotesqueries that mark everyday life amid the death throes of Nicolae Ceaușescu’s dictatorship, during which the film is set, that it practically becomes a shibboleth. The words may seem little more than a verbal shrug, but in the mouths of Pintilie’s characters, full to bursting with lust for life, they express a liberatory side of absurdism that goes beyond mere politics. That the meaning and the mechanisms of their lives are unknowable is as much cause for jubilation as despair.
Fittingly, The Oak opens with a death—that of Truica (Virgil Andriescu), former colonel in the Securitate (Romania’s secret police agency during its communist regime) and father to Nela (Maia Morgenstern), the film’s protagonist. As his caretaker, Nela projects for him...
Fittingly, The Oak opens with a death—that of Truica (Virgil Andriescu), former colonel in the Securitate (Romania’s secret police agency during its communist regime) and father to Nela (Maia Morgenstern), the film’s protagonist. As his caretaker, Nela projects for him...
- 4/24/2023
- by William Repass
- Slant Magazine
Cristi Puiu. Photo by Alexi Pelekanos, courtesy of the ViennaleSieranevada, Cristi Puiu's latest fictional feature film is not only a fictional film, it is a film about fiction. It is about the fictions and lies we escape to in order to live on. Moreover, it is about the impotence when realizing that we are living in this net of fictions and lies. When asked about his viewing habits the Romanian director loves to stress that he prefers documentary to fictional cinema. Many of those who have written about Puiu focus on the so-called documentary qualities of his cinema, meaning his kind of realism, the way his camera and editing does not interfere too much with the action. Such observations are arguable to say the least because for Puiu, who has made some documentaries inspired by Raymond Depardon like 25.12.1995, București, Gara de Nord (1996) or 13 - 19 iulie 1998, Craiova, Azilul de batrani...
- 11/29/2016
- MUBI
Saving the Farm: Hajdu Offers Poor Man’s 12 Years A Slave
Set against sprawling plains and a dusty backdrop, Mirage (aka Délibáb) unravels as a contemplative drama with a lofty aspirations of an epic. Keeping to a bare bones approach, the skeleton of the narrative exhibits a careful precision, preferring to reserve the details in favor for the audience members connecting the dots themselves. Exploring further previous themes of alienation and oppression, Szabolcs Hajdu, creates a careful–albeit at times disconnected–study of a man who begins as and remains an enigma.
A stranger (Isaach De Bankolé) whose name is not revealed until the latter part of the film finds himself in the hands of a gang, primarily made of farmers, geese herders–but not the kind seen in pastoral portraits but rather ones that wield guns freely. His history is not known and what little of his background only...
Set against sprawling plains and a dusty backdrop, Mirage (aka Délibáb) unravels as a contemplative drama with a lofty aspirations of an epic. Keeping to a bare bones approach, the skeleton of the narrative exhibits a careful precision, preferring to reserve the details in favor for the audience members connecting the dots themselves. Exploring further previous themes of alienation and oppression, Szabolcs Hajdu, creates a careful–albeit at times disconnected–study of a man who begins as and remains an enigma.
A stranger (Isaach De Bankolé) whose name is not revealed until the latter part of the film finds himself in the hands of a gang, primarily made of farmers, geese herders–but not the kind seen in pastoral portraits but rather ones that wield guns freely. His history is not known and what little of his background only...
- 11/28/2014
- by Amanda Yam
- IONCINEMA.com
This is the review for Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque), starring Eric Elmosnino, Lucy Gordon, Laetitia Casta, Doug Jones, Anna Mouglalis, Mylène Jampanoï, Sara Forestier, Kacey Mottet Klein and Razvan Vasilescu, directed by Joann Sfar. Joann Sfar’s debut film documents the life of the one and only, ugly as sin, sexy as hell, Serge Gainsbourg. Sfar has set himself quite the challenge - with the title alone - to convince us of Gainsbourg’s ‘heroic’ attributes. The film captures Gainsbourg’s cheeky wit; indeed, the subtitle makes reference to his most famous song ‘Je t’aime…moi non plus’, which translates to ‘I love you…me neither’. The song was banned in many countries after its release in the 1960s, due to the sexually explicit lyrics contained within the song, and Jane Birkin’s apparent orgasm at the end.
- 1/13/2011
- by Sarah Wayman
- Pure Movies
New waves come and new waves go, but they can also linger on in the careers of filmmakeres as they spiral out and become individuals. The Romanian New Wave that began to break only five or so years ago seems to have already dissipated -- only Corneliu Porumboiu's "Police, Adjective" has emerged in the last two years. Maybe the Romanian vibe itself was just too dire to last, or maybe the economy kneecapped the movement. Perhaps momentum was lost when one of the Wave's most vibrant and commercially orthodox voices, Cristian Nemescu, died in a car wreck in 2006, forever 27, amidst the post-production on his first feature, "California Dreamin'" (2007), which itself has taken three arduous years to finally be made available to American viewers.
The Romanian films we've seen in the last five years were all made by thirtysomethings, all of them still teenagers and film-school students when Romania became...
The Romanian films we've seen in the last five years were all made by thirtysomethings, all of them still teenagers and film-school students when Romania became...
- 5/11/2010
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
By Christopher Stipp
The Archives, Right Here
Check out my new column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on Twitter under the name: Stipp
Robin Hood - Free Passes
Who lives in Arizona and wants to see Russell Crowe dispatch dirty peasants with a bow and arrow?
I sure do. After loving every last morsel of the last Russell Crowe/Ridley Scott team-up this film at least gets an emotional buy-in simply because lighting may very well strike twice.
For those that would like to see this film Tuesday, May 11th, at 7:00 at Harkins Fashion Square please shoot me a line at Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com and let me know you’re interested in winning some tickets. I don’t have many so get those entries in quick.
And, for those that need an explanation of what this movie has in store for you, read...
The Archives, Right Here
Check out my new column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on Twitter under the name: Stipp
Robin Hood - Free Passes
Who lives in Arizona and wants to see Russell Crowe dispatch dirty peasants with a bow and arrow?
I sure do. After loving every last morsel of the last Russell Crowe/Ridley Scott team-up this film at least gets an emotional buy-in simply because lighting may very well strike twice.
For those that would like to see this film Tuesday, May 11th, at 7:00 at Harkins Fashion Square please shoot me a line at Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com and let me know you’re interested in winning some tickets. I don’t have many so get those entries in quick.
And, for those that need an explanation of what this movie has in store for you, read...
- 5/7/2010
- by Christopher Stipp
Director Fatih Akin's "The Edge of Heaven" was selected as the best narrative feature at the 10th annual RiverRun International Film Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The jury also awarded a best actress nod to "Heaven"'s Hanna Schygulla and gave Akin the award for best screenplay, an award he also won for the film at 2007's Festival de Cannes.
The BB&T Audience Award for best narrative went to Gareth Lewis' "The Baker". Best actor was Razvan Vasilescu for "California Dreamin'". The cinematography prize went to "California Dreamin"'s Cristian Nemescu, who also received a posthumous special jury prize for directing.
"Up the Yangtze" by Yung Chang won best documentary feature. The film's Shi Ging Wang won best cinematography. The audience award for documentary feature went to Helen Hood Scheer's "JUMP!" A special jury prize for best editing was given to Joelle Alexis for "The Champagne Spy".
"Intimacy", directed by Asley Sabin and David Redmon, won the Human Rights Award.
"Milan" won best narrative short and "Board Control" was selected best documentary short. "I Met the Walrus" received the best animated short prize.
The jury also awarded a best actress nod to "Heaven"'s Hanna Schygulla and gave Akin the award for best screenplay, an award he also won for the film at 2007's Festival de Cannes.
The BB&T Audience Award for best narrative went to Gareth Lewis' "The Baker". Best actor was Razvan Vasilescu for "California Dreamin'". The cinematography prize went to "California Dreamin"'s Cristian Nemescu, who also received a posthumous special jury prize for directing.
"Up the Yangtze" by Yung Chang won best documentary feature. The film's Shi Ging Wang won best cinematography. The audience award for documentary feature went to Helen Hood Scheer's "JUMP!" A special jury prize for best editing was given to Joelle Alexis for "The Champagne Spy".
"Intimacy", directed by Asley Sabin and David Redmon, won the Human Rights Award.
"Milan" won best narrative short and "Board Control" was selected best documentary short. "I Met the Walrus" received the best animated short prize.
- 4/28/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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