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Reviews
Aferim! (2015)
Justice for Gypsies
Being based on lots of writings from that era, I suppose that this movie reflects a fair image of life in Tara Romaneasca (Wallachia) of the 19th Century, with its' patterns and prejudices. It probably does some justice to today's Romani, when Europe encounters them again and there is no narrative to explain who their ancestors were. And maybe it does some justice to today's Romanians too, when the European public finds out what is the distinction between Romanians and Romani.
The movie can evoke amusement, disapproval, empathy. However, the spectator discovers more and more that comedy turns to tragedy.
I appreciate the fact that Aferim has complex characters that are not entirely positive or negative.
Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (2013)
Not so much porn as one might expect
I like movies that present a subtle analysis of a certain human issue and bring some valuable insight. I like Eyes Wide Shut, for example, because it analyses the phenomenon of temptation towards adultery. I like Steve McQueen's movie Shame because it analyses the subtle issue of intimacy versus sexuality. I like Twelve Angry Men, because it analyses the issue of Groupthink, and so on.
I also like movies that present a well-engineered story.
And this is why I am amazed why Nymphomaniac (I) is so much rejected, while Blue Is The Warmest Color is so well received. Nymphomaniac is accused for being too much of a porn movie. Well, I would say that Blue Is The Warmest Color is much more of a porn movie than Nymphomaniac.
Nymphomaniac picks up a subject that when it is discussed, you cannot present it without using at least some shocking imagery. In my view, Nymphomaniac appeals to sex and nudity just enough that is needed in order to transmit a relevant idea or place an useful brick within the story construction. Instead, my view is that Blue Is The Warmest Color preys on porn scenes for profit.
I would say that in our Western culture, prostitution, while being enjoyed by many in a way or another, it is still a subject that is expected to elicit disgust, while lesbianism is viewed more like an expression of human freedom.
While watching the movie, one can strongly disagree with the degree of promiscuity and risk that Joe is getting into. However, her behavior is believable from the perspective of Hypersexuality. The movie does some justice in re-humanizing the nymphomaniac (and the viewer might extrapolate some of the re-humanization to the issue of prostitution).
Nymphomaniac is also a salad in von Trier style, that reminded me of Passolini, Marquis De Sade, other scenes in Lars von Trier's movies and sex as a political tool. It also contains nice metaphors and black humor that are thought provoking, which Blue Is The Warmest Color does not.
Boyhood (2014)
Not bad, but also not good
I usually comment when a movie leaves me with a strong impression, either good or bad, and this one is for the second reason. Some people said that one of the strategies to make a story is to raise the stakes and think in terms of "if this was not enough"... something new makes the things even worse. But in this movie the pattern is "if this was not enough", something even better happens. A moving 12 year epic? This is almost not even a story. It is like a documentary about some people's lives. Or it is like a manual, it has about 5 situations where the characters are so smart that they can serve as models for training for personal development. This movie is a lot like life, but exaggerated in a positive sense. I suppose the reason that it does not have a good story is due to commercial interests, but it also can be sloppiness. This movie goes on my list of high rated movies that actually make me feel disappointed about humanity. Though it is not as bad as Avatar. I did expect a better movie. The title Boyhood made me think it somehow presents the essence of Boyhood. But instead it literally presents the Boyhood of a person without much mystery and drama.
Closer to the Moon (2014)
His story
In reality, something happened. Some people have been executed without being guilty. They have been forced to play a role in their fake trials and all ended in their execution. A false history was created by some top authorities in order to teach some kind of a lesson to the people that worked in the communist regime structures. This movie was not made for the public. This false reenactment most probably inspired Lucian Pintilie to create a cinematographic masterpiece, Reconstruction (1968). Add to that the fact that Pintilie's film has been done in those crazy times, when you could have gotten into big trouble for criticizing the regime.
Now, here comes Caranfil, a great director, that takes the original story and twists it once again, turning these people into courageous heroes that opposed the regime. They get into a suicidal mission just to send a message. How much believable is that? Does this bring justice to the original six persecuted people? I'm not sure about that. There's a documentary, called Marele Jaf Comunist (The Great Communist Robbery) that reveals more of the true story. Anyway, a drama is not supposed to tell the real story, and that's OK, but in this case, it's a pity that some people will take it as history.
The real six people have been persecuted in communist style with fake trials and five of them were killed. They were Jews and they were high professionals. Moreover, ironically, they had a history in participating successfully in bringing the communism to Romania. So, why did the regime chose them in order to teach a lesson to the other communists, and probably to the Jewish communists?
The movie might leave you with the impression that all Jews were persecuted under the communism. Many of them they were. The Russian occupation brought suffering to all kinds of Romanian citizens. But many of the Jews supported the regime since the beginning.
I know that many of the Jews have been disappointed by the communism that they previously believed in. Most of the Jews went to Israel sometimes in the Sixties, but also, many Jews supported the communist repression, leading to massive deportation, imprisonment and execution of hundreds of thousands of Romanian citizens. You will not see this in the movie.
Doi crai (2007)
Avoid it!
I watched this movie at a movie festival in Galati, Romania. I am amazed that this movie was even selected. This is not art. It's a waste of time. The movie contains a lot of vulgarity and nudity and the acting and story are a disaster. You see vulgar, stupid and immoral people doing stupid things and talking dirty. Apart of this, there's nothing to gain from it. The only people that could enjoy this movie would be the uneducated people that are happy to discover other people worse than themselves. Moreover, there were parents with children at the cinema and they have not been warned about the content. The movie is available on Youtube for the ones that might have the ambition to waste 20 minutes of their lives.
La vie d'Adèle (2013)
Too long!
I regret watching this movie. It took too long to communicate too little. There were too many scenes that did not fit, long love scenes that looked like porn, long irrelevant scenes from parties and fragments from the character's professional life that were completely disconnected from the rest of the plot.
A lot of superficiality and irrelevance. If the movie would be two hours and a half shorter, it would be much better. I am amazed that this movie is so well reviewed. It's a movie about love that didn't leave me with any kind of new insight. Maybe if I was a teenager, it would have had some value. There were some good parts though, but after two hours of a faulty story it's hard to connect and enjoy it.
Katalin Varga (2009)
Almost a masterpiece, but...
I borrowed the DVD from a local store, being sure that this is going to be a good movie. I read good reviews of it. Now I'm quite disappointed after seeing it. The movie is good enough until the scene where the woman is telling her rape experience finishes. The story of the rape is the best part. As the camera focused on the characters' faces, Katalin tells her horrific story, disconnected from the suffering that we would expect. That gives the character a lot of power. She is in a position of control, she overcame the bad experience and her main weapon is the truth, because the truth will really ruin the precious relationship of Katalin's aggressor with his wife. The story of the rape is told in such intimate detail, that you may feel various emotions, like empathy, justice being done, concern for any of the characters, each of them may be in a dangerous position. The situation is very much like one from Sadoveanu's novel "Baltagul". After this wonderful artistic moment, the rest of the movie is full of broken links. The man's regret for what he has done is very unrealistic, not that this might not happen in real life, but his state is not supported by the play and the character's story. Then, the suffering for the loss of his wife is too short. The wife, a devoted Christian, commits suicide (that's possible, but not very probable) without many explanations given to us. The man suffers too little after that because he is quite preoccupied with his relation with Katalin and her son. Many other disharmonious details disconnected me from the movie. I also have some personal regrets, that the Romanians in the movie are all mean characters. There's no obvious reason in a movie where 99 percent of the time you have Hungarian language speaking, only three short but significant dialogues are in Romanian. In one of them we have the girls eating sunflower seeds that are not helping the strangers in need without judging or mocking them. Eating sunflowers in public in Romania is associated with low class, specially because it's a Balkan habit mostly associated with gypsies. Speaking of gypsies, I can not get over the idea that the first victim of Katalin is associated with Gypsies and undoubtedly this is part of the construction of an evil character. The other two scenes with Romanians are the ones involving the vengeful criminals, one of them showing a twisted faith in God. Anyway, it could have been a good movie, but amateurish errors and a bit of xenophobia (I suppose) ruined it for me. I may keep in mind as good parts: landscapes, music and the boat scene.
Kapitalism - Reteta noastra secreta (2010)
Groupthink
This movie shows how the goods of the communist state were hijacked by the new "kapitalists" of Romania after 1989. The country gets indebted and the future generation will pay the price.
What I found interesting is the group pattern of thinking. The Romanian corrupted VIPs feel they don't have enough because they compare themselves with each other and there's always someone that has stolen more. Even if they are filthy reach, they cannot stop stealing because of the competition that creates a false impression of having not enough. However, there's always also the other side of the story, these days one of the guys in the movie is prosecuted for undermining the country's economy.
Nunta muta (2008)
One of the best movies I have ever seen
This is maybe the best movie I have seen. It made me get an IMDb account to rate it 10 stars. I don't care about technical judgments about this movie. It's a Romanian emotional roller-coaster which pictures our recent history in a tragical and comical frame. It's one of the few movies I have ever watched at the cinema where at the end of which lots of people applauded. Romanians are recognizing themselves in the story and they find coherence in their identity and this makes the movie a masterpiece and a great service to the people of this country.
One more thing that I appreciate in this movie is a reparation done within the history of the subjective experience. People from the village were at best ignoring communists and poking fun of them if they were not hating them. Nobody was happy to give away their land and village men knew what communism can bring, since they saw it with their own eyes when they fought on the Eastern front.
Most people hated communism and they tried to live a normal life in silence, just like it happens in the movie. Humor was maybe the best survival resource.
I live in Romania and I know from personal experience and thorough study what Russians did bring under the name of communism. I don't try to convince anyone that the so called communism was criminal and implemented locally with the help of the weakest links (like in the movie), low educated people with low morals, since there is enough literature today for anyone that has any doubt. Of course, as somebody mentions here, Romanians too did their horrible crimes on the Eastern front, but this does not mean that what the people like the ones in the movie endured, did any kind of humane justice. The people that fought on the Eastern front are a good source, since they were regular soldiers, not vicious criminals and even if they were vicious criminals, they could anyway still have seen the "benefits" that "communism" has brought to Russia.
I understand why some people consider it propagandistic, but in my view this is a good artistical work upon the subjective experience and life of ordinary Romanians in 1953.