Nunti, botezuri, inmormantari

Could've been worse Could've been even better

"Nunti, botezuri, inmormantari" is a 2022 romanian comedy movie starring Serban Pavlu, Gheorghe Ifrim and Anca Sigartau. Directed by Alexandru Lustig and written by Adrian Lustig.

The movie tells the story of Cosmin Berinde (S erban Pavlu), who bought a land in 2007, so he can build some houses and sells them for 1.000.000 Euro. But even near him there's a loud restaurant for rent, he fights back to reach his goal,even if it messes up his entire life.

The conflict is intense, characthers are at war and each and one of them fights back in ways that you'll never have seen coming. Unfortunately the main characther, while relatable, can often become annoying and unlikeable, not letting the audience relate to his ideas

The jokes are funny and the story is overall good, but the good moments are few and far between. The movie is long, way too long. The script does not profit from it's lengthy runtime, many scenes feelling either stale or just plain unnecessary. And it's a shame, 'cause the script has it's moment: the movie can and knows how to be entertaining. And even the good stuff can become repetitive or some scenes/plot points just fade away cause nothing really happens in some scenes

I liked this movie: the director did a good job to ilustrated this tale into a fun colorful way and the humor can be good, but the movie suffers from a dry story with good elements that aren't expended enough on.

(Seen on Netflix, in my house with another person)

Plot (spoiler free): Our protagonist, Cosmin Berinde (Serban Pavlu) bought a land at country side, planning to invest into building houses on it, expecting a profit of 1 million euro. He did not know about the neighboring club that organizes loud events, such as weddings and christenings. After asking nicely to turn the music down, Cosmin was rejected and started a music "war" to destroy the club's business. This is the intro of the movie... the rest is up to you to watch what happens.

Comedy: The whole movie is intended to be a comedy. Types present in this movie: situation comedy (a lot), verbal comedy (a lot), name comedy (I'll describe below) and others.

Name comedy comes from a few characters:

• Mr. Barbat (in Romanian, "barbat" = "man") - it produces confusion such as:

♦ (on phone) "Hello! Talking to Barbat on phone." ... (the other side) "Yes, hello... another man (barbat) here".

♦ "A song dedication to the manliest man alive ... To Mr. Barbat!" (Mr. Man)

• the priest named Mantuiala. In Romanian, "a mantui" = "to save" (in a religious way), but "de mantuiala" = "botched". From his name, we understand the pseudo work that the priest does.

Unfortunately, some verbal comedy has sense only in Romanian.

The songs chosen by Cosmin for his "war" has lots of meanings in Romanian culture. Such as (very minor spoilers):

• The first artist he chose is Jean de la Craiova (Jean from Craiova, a city). This artist discography is mainly made from "manele", a song genre that is mostly played at parties, but often considered a bad taste in music by high standards people.

• The second band he chose is Parazitii (Parasites), a rap band. It is well known here, as they often use curse words in their songs. Their music is not well heard in this movie (to don't make it a 15+ film), but Romanians know them well enough to know what they are singing about.

Overall, it is a very good comedy with good actors. Good enough to watch in a weekend to sit back and relax. Even better if you have a person next to you to discuss the little details that they use along the movie.

Everytime I watch any of these contemporary Romanian "films", I can say the same odd thing: describing the plot to somebody that never saw it makes them think this is incredible comedy material... but when actually watching it... you know... yuk!!!

I mean don't get me wrong, this is not as bad as "Teambuilding" (the worst piece of film ever created), its just trash couch material for the main and only purpose - KILL TIME!

It seems that the script was written by a 10 year old, and the director is something like 7.

And of course... Serban Pavlu (an otherwize incredible actor)... should fire his agent!

Complete non sense script, bad acting, horrible dialogues. Worst directing and acting I have seen in a long time in Romanian cinematography. I am sorry for the rest of the crew that did their job honorably ( photography, sound, makeup, location manager etc). Complete waste of time and money.

I kept watching until the end hoping it will get better but it got weirder and weirder..and at the end simply went..screw this, we don't need an ending or to give audience what they deserved after the buildup.

I feel very disappointed and betrayed..I wanted to like this movie. I want my 2hours back and to unsee this.

Like someone stated very eloquently before, the movie started well, as a decent comedy, but it ended absurd in a kitchy mood and dark comedy. They couldnt decide what kind of comedy to build up and the result was just a kitch. However, the acting was very good and covincing, too pity it was ruined by a poor producing and mixing the comedy styles.

At some point it became like a drama, therefore I got mixed feelings. During watching the movie at some point I started rooting against the main character. It'a definitely a feelgood comedy. Some scenes are simply gut wrenching in the last part of the movie, which the movie did not prepare me for, when creating the premise of the film.