Casatoria

I expected this film to be bad, as (relatively high-budget) Romanian comedies usually are lately, but it was an utter disappointment. It was the first time I ever felt the urge to leave my seat in the cinema. The script is lamentable, the jokes are grotesquely lame, the anachronistic setting fails to create anything other than sheer confusion, and the crude caricatures of the characters were painfully lacklustre. Especially since I had high expectations from Bendeac who gives off the impression of an erudite. Also, the covert shoutout to gambling companies are simply disgusting. Overall, it's an hodgepodge meant for cheap laughs and commercial success.

This movie was under my expectations given the talent of Mihai Bendeac, and the two main things that made this movie bad are the script and the music.

The problem with the script is that the characters are simply poorly written, predictable, based of cliches and simple jokes. It was like I was watching a children's movie because of the exaggerated traits of each character. There were also some characters that seemed like product placement because they are celebrities and their roles brought nothing.

The mixing of present day and past also was poorly executed, and if the director really wanted to do it, it could have been definetly made better.

The music also seemed totally out of place like product placement, inserted to appeal to the masses and reminded me of the other romanian movies that have come out lately that are clearly made for profit and no one wanted thought about making a good movie, but making a good profit.

I kept watching this movie till the end just to see how low a story can go. Nothing to see at the ridiculous characters placed at the border of nowhere while the touch of local music and kitsch is beyond comprehension and taste. Producer and actor Mihai Bendeac seems to have a wrong understanding of cinematic arts when he projects his artistic vision on the screen and employs a blend of Romanian music celebrities just to make the film even less convincing. The only inspired move was to place the story a century ago, back the days when Romania was not yet touched by modern "values", yet the set was troubled by grotesque costumes and vulgar tattoos. A total kitsch-hock.

I start by saying that I love Mihai Bendeac and I consider him the best humor creator in Romania at the moment. I've seen all his plays directed or just acted and I didn't even know before seeing it that this film is actually a screen adaptation of the play "Krecinski's Wedding".

The film stands out for its costumes and image, one of the best, if not the best, Romanian film of recent years from this point of view.

But I think that MB was wrong considering that theater and film can be so much the same. You can't really make a film with so many absurd and unrealistic characters unless you make it for children. And this is not a movie for children. If during the theater play I laughed out loud at certain lines, well, it was quite quiet in the movie theater. Liviu Pintileasa, although he does his best, does not seem to be necessarily made for the main role in a comedy film, and Vlad Dragulin is used too little.

On top of all this, there are also some songs that don't really belong there. They simply give the impression that the director satisfied his own musical pleasures with them or... that the respective soloists had to be included in the film.

I'm not talking about the actors' talent. I'm referring to the camera operator and the director of photography, who created truly exceptional shots in a film that I consider mediocre.

The film aims to be a parody, blending different eras, but it fails due to its forced language and weak acting. I know Romania and the decline of its educational institutions, and this lack of culture is reflected in the film - through its dialogue, music, and behavior.

Yes, it is a parody, but a poorly executed one, with lines that try to sound sophisticated at times but are rather delivered than truly acted. A film that wants to be a comedy but, in reality, mirrors the cultural decline of the country that produced it.