Tache

For those who don't know, Igor Cobileanski is the director of several absolutely brilliant humorous shorts (you can see them on YouTube). After having watched them, I decided I wanted to know more about his work, so I watched "Tache, the Old Gravedigger". While it lacks the concision of his shorts, as well as their continuous string of puns and funny situations, the film has a good flow, with a gradually unraveling plot, and quite a few unexpected turns. Mircea Diaconu (Tache), one of the leading comedy actors of Romania, meets here his ex-partner from "Filantropica" (Nae Caranfil's epoch-making film), Mara Nicolescu (Geta), who also managed to write an apparently simple, but in reality quite elaborate script - another well-made, although rather over-looked debut. Together with Constantin Draganescu (playing Tache's life-long friend, Bobicescu "Bobi"), who is excellent in his sly role of womanizer and extortionist, make up a trio that upholds the film throughout. Of course, there's a good contribution from Gabriel Spataru (playing the prosperous undertaker Pafalau) as well as from Gabriel Spahiu (Geta's allegedly impotent husband Nestor) who add to the colorful atmosphere of the film.

As the previous reviewer said, the film succeeds in being a very good-taste comedy, on the side of irony and the grotesque, not of the macabre, and this a very pleasant surprise, since the subject could have easily afforded it. All in all, it's a good film, but knowing Cobileanski, I know he can do better, and I hope he soon will. The cast and crew are well-chosen (and I don't think it's a chance that the crew is almost the same as Nae Caranfil's), so they should keep up the good work and bring us something to rival "Inspiration" and "When the Lights Go Out".