Tales from the Golden Age (2009)
"Amintiri din epoca de aur" (original title)

Several urban legends of Communist Romania are dramatized.

Directors:

Hanno Höfer, Razvan Marculescu,

Writer:

Cristian Mungiu

Stars:

Diana Cavallioti, Radu Iacoban, Vlad Ivanov

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Diana Cavallioti	...	Crina (segment "The Legend of the Air Sellers")
Radu Iacoban	...	Bughi (segment "The Legend of the Air Sellers")
Vlad Ivanov	...	Grigore (segment "The Legend of the Chicken Driver")
Tania Popa	...	Camelia (segment "The Legend of the Chicken Driver")
Liliana Mocanu	...	Marusia (segment "The Legend of the Chicken Driver")
Alexandru Potocean	...	The Secretary (segment "The Legend of the Official Visit")
Teodor Corban	...	The Mayor (segment "The Legend of the Official Visit")
Emanuel Parvu	...	The Party Inspector (segment "The Legend of the Official Visit")
Calin Chirila	...	The Party Activist (segment "The Legend of the Party Activist")
Romeo Tudor	...	The Shepherd (segment "The Legend of the Party Activist")
Avram Birau	...	The Photographer (segment "The Legend of the Party Photographer")
Paul Dunca	...	The Photographer's Assistant (segment "The Legend of the Party Photographer")
Viorel Comanici	...	The Party Secretary (segment "The Legend of the Party Photographer")
Ion Sapdaru	...	Policeman Alexa (segment "The Legend of the Greedy Policeman")
Virginia Mirea	...	Policeman's Wife (segment "The Legend of the Greedy Policeman")

Storyline

Several urban legends of Communist Romania are dramatized.

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Plot Keywords:

urban legend | romania | mythology | communism | retrospective | 

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Genres:

Comedy | History

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Le Pacte [fr] Mobra Films [ro]

Country:

Romania France

Language:

Romanian

Release Date:

26 August 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Tales from the Golden Age

Filming Locations:

Bucharest, Romania

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mobra Films, Why Not Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

155 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shown at Leeds International Film Festival (UK) on the 11th & 12th of November, 2009.

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Connections

Features Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

User Reviews

A grim delight

I love Kieslowski's films of morally compromised lives in communist Poland. But communist Poland was never half as scary as Ceacescu's 'Golden Age' in Romania, which is perhaps why it's only now that Romanain cinema appears to be enjoying it's own golden era, with many great films looking back at the dictatorship and its legacy. Chris Mungiu's 'Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days' is perhaps the finest of them; here he has scripted a bunch of illustrative (and not necessarily so tall) tales, which are directed by himself and a number of collaborators (though who produced which episode is not acknowledged). In some ways, the first tale (about an official visit) is almost unbeatable, a black comedy that had me laughing out loud; the last (about a couple of bottle-stealers) has the most obvious stylistic echoes of Mungiu's own work. But all of them capture the mixture of poverty, deference, fear and, paradoxically, individual selfishness, that characterised life under communism. The stories are superficially slight, but the smallest of transgressions carry grotesquely exaggerated weight Bitter wryness and naturalistic acting, camera work and dialogue, mark the films as a whole: a highly recommended set.