metcavus Reviews

Marfa si banii (2001)

Initial effort of the Romanian New Wave

[8/10 · 21 March 2013]

Stuff and Dough (2001) is a low-budged road movie by one of the talented directors of so-called Romanian New Wave, and it is arguably the initiator of this wave. The freshness of the film comes both from the subject and from the style!

We are in contemporary Romania. A post-communist country where every citizen struggle to break trough with a business enterprise. Our main protagonist, mummy's boy Ovidiu accepts to deliver a package of medicines, which obviously is something different considering the money he received for delivery from his mafia-like 'boss'. On his way to Bucharest he is accompanied with a close friend Vali and his girlfriend Bety, and they are shocked when they are attacked by a group of men.

Besides the story, film successfully delivers living conditions of ordinary people in contemporary Romania, that is why, in some way, it resembles neo-realist approach. We are especially informed about the struggle of youth, their interests, targets and moral behaviors, how they accommodate to new liberal system, however post-communist type of liberalism.

On the other hand, style is more new wave; a fresh, unorthodox type of filmmaking. Hand-held camera, natural acting, coarse editing, full of jump cuts and elliptical cuts.

The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu (2010)

Irony is hidden in the title

[9/10 · 20 March 2013]

Autobiografia lui Nicolae Ceausescu (2010) is a feature-length documentary derived only from archive footage, from images mostly taken by official camera crew of Ceausescu. It covers the years of Ceausescu reign, between 1965 and 1989. From the footage and camera angles we can easily understand that in most of the occasions more than one camera were used for documenting, and that cameramen were given a broad freedom, even shooting the most intimate moments of the Ceausescu couple.

The role of the director here is mainly to edit the images which are mostly arranged in chronological order, but this is where the brilliance of Andrei Ujica starts to shine! He implements wonderful editing skills, often using montage technique to enrich the narrative. Moreover, in most cases shot/reverse shot is brilliantly used as if this is a well-designed fiction.

For me, this phenomenal documentary, among other things, presents two main issues to remember. First, it shows how the life and people of Romania were seen by a president. How a president lives and how he perceives his country visually. This is because the lens of the camera in most cases can be metaphorically leveled with the eye of Ceausescu. That is why the title of the film is so ironic! We all know that the conditions in Romania were not the same with the images documented by Ceausescu cameramen. And second, it sadly presents how this big communist utopia, this all-happy-people real communism slowly vanishes. It is sad because initial happiness of people really looks like was coming from the heart.

In conclusion, this is a must see documentary, a real cinema pleasure, which bears a potential of numerous discussions, not only about Romania or the so-called communist bloc, but also about the nature of governing and making history.

Sofia's Last Ambulance (2012)

All is written in the faces!

[9/10 · 2 February 2013]

A film crew is "embedded" to one of the ambulance crews in the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia. We follow this close-relation three-people emergency team, constituted by a driver, an emergency physician and an emergency nurse, during their night shifts, when they are on duty and also when they are waiting for a call. However, we are mainly directed not to the incidents but watching the faces of our protagonists, even when they operate during emergency cases. So all the intention is transferred to the audience through off-screen talking and the faces of the team.

It is a great documentary by young filmmaker Ilian Metev. He implemented a highly stylistic approach and well controlled ups and downs in the narrative, which is fluent enough for a documentary. We really identify with the characters, like in a fiction film, and appreciate their struggle, commitment and passion for work, despite the facts that they operate in very bad conditions.

It is not all about the body, but the soul!