film criticism

Andreea Pﾄフru - film criticism -

"Aferim!" - The Good, the Bad and the Romanians

“Aferim!” (an interjection from Ottoman

This is how a metaphysical fatality of the

Turkish, meaning “Bravo, very good!”) directed Romanian people is explained: the belief in "no

by Radu Jude presents the 1835 Walachia flying from fate" and that society is immutable. through the journey of constable Costandin Aspects of the classes are shown during the (Teodor Corban) and his teen son, Ioniță (Mihai movie and one can sometimes empathise, Comănoiu) in the search of the runaway gypsy another times be repulsed by the crude, yet slave Carfin (Toma Cuzin). The story is narratively playful, not so politically correct phrases. The linear, and the catalyst of the action is the gypsy, dramatising of the relationship with strangers is an antihero, who is shown sporadically by the another trait which transpires from the movie: camera, draped over the constable’s horse, with being surrounded by conquerors, also by his feet in wooden stocks. The protagonist is insiders, useful or occupiers, the Romanians guilty of giving in to the sexual demands of his relate to the other with both admiration and master's wife Sultana and for that, he has to be hostility, yet every time from the passive punished. The capturing and handing over this expectations and outlook of others. The event in criminal to the faulted boyar doesn't alter much which Constandin and his son meet a priest who the course of society, nor the protagonists, who, exposes his life approach and contentious labels by the end of the journey will find themselves about other ethnics, based on a dubious little changed, contrary to the western genre the interpretation of history and on the religious film quotes. The peculiar Wallachian western word, confirms my previous affirmation. The intrigue generates a series of secondary issues character humorously interpreted by Alexandru of the presented society, which trace a geneal- Bindea tells them about the Egyptians "descenogy of mentalities. Addressing topics such as dants of Ham", questions the human quality of slavery, feudalism, misogyny and racism, Radu the gypsy slaves (of course, the Christian ones Jude has won the Best Director prize in Berlin are considered human and owning a soul) and with

this

arty

historical

drama. jews, obviously avaricious, those and the Phanariotes being the main merchant people at

Though filmed from the distance of long the time. Jude achieves through this abundant sequence takes, the film imposes a playful of intertextuality film a depoliticisation and a rhythm, mostly given by the colourful language demystifying of history. of the time, but also by self-irony. Among his initiation excursion, the future infantryman Ioniță The actors' lines are true to the historical period, meets all kind of members of the society he has the flow of the speech, the constant flow of to integrate with: gypsies, peasants, townsfolk aphorisms and the abundance in archaisms at the fair, craftsmen, another lawmen, boyars, harden the reception of the movie; even though, clergy, including the victims of the outlaw the film is no depicting of the stereotypical. The idealised by history. Without being stereotypical history is not only a stylistic ornament of the and bipolar, the director mediates through genre, but an inner attribute. The weasel words, bookish and folkloric sources the oral, unwritten the unsupported attributions, the value-laden history of the gypsies and other inferior labels of the continuous prattle, show the social classes.

mentalities of the time.

The inferiority complex can be seen not only in The humiliation scene the lawman Constandin actions, but words of wisdom. The hierarchies has to endure in front of his own son, who are the only thing that rule this depicted society: powerlessly assists at the cruel enforcement of "I pity our country when the ass will rule the the boyar's power, is comparable to the head”. Although, Jude manages to distance humiliation and weakness of the father in Vittorio himself from antithesis, no one is entirely good de Sica's “Ladri di Biciclette". Another discreet or bad, innocent or corrupt and he invents quotation, less canonical and ad litteram agreeable, round characters through this interpreted is the Bible, to which the churchmen road-movie structure.

had little and recent access. The preached mentality

is

one

from

the

Ecclesiastes:

The main agents of the themes are "Meaningless! Meaningless! says the Teacher. presented, like the title, ironically: the most open Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." to the Western world and, therefore, to a change of mentality, is the slave. The gypsy Carfin The Balkan music actively accompanies the narrates the Romanians about the other adventure of the characters and is due to the countries, about his journeys with the boyar to spirit of the time, mixing both old traditional Leipzig and Vienna, though he is tied on a horse Romanian songs, gypsy music and psalmic music and facing down. The roots of racism and with the Turkish instruments, the region being prejudice are perpetuated from birth: the Roma under child

runaway

Țintiric

(Alberto

Turkish

Ottoman

occupation.

The

Dinache) influence of the folklorist and also composer of

Constandin and his son take hostage with them the national anthem, Anton Pann and his is presented in the only tender scene when he attempts to tame the byzantine orthodox cult, has to shout loudly at the fair, inviting to be are the ones that led to the national conscience. bought: "Buy me honest boyars, buy me, I am a hardworking and obedient servant!", in this way The Romania presented by "Aferim!" is a proving once again how arbitrary the distribution confrontation between past and present, which of power is. In a way, the action and the piece of seem to differ less than we would like to. This advice, the experience Constandin has to pass primitive Romania before The Forty-Eighters over to his son, remind me of one of the earliest movement, a vague crossroads area of Europe, literary works of Walachia, called "The teachings caught in the imperial crossfire between Turkey, of Neagoe Basarab to his son Theodosie" in a Russia and Austria, was affected by the recurring rural manner and adapted to the social class occupation.

An

accentuated

closing,

yet

Constandin and his son belong to. The opening, characterises these virgin lands which Romanian films which refer to the agrarian the director of photography Marius Panduru society - the superb screening of the book reveals among shadows and lights in superb depicting the love of soil, “Moromeții”, directed black and white 35 mm film tones.

by Stere Gulea and "La Moara cu Noroc" directed by Victor Iliu are quoted by this beautifully shot movie.

Following the course of action, the change of locations, from the uninhabited wild territories to the Sunday fair, from the boyar’s typical for Oltenia / Walachia region imposing house to the vivid atmosphere of the inn, the editing is natural and complimented by the diegetic sound, with origins in the crowded image, which sometimes seems to include all those exponents of the society altogether.

In the end, through vertical relationships between the characters, Radu Jude presents a story of servility, of human defeat in front of the power,

often

oppressive

and

unjustified.

"No sword cuts off a bowed head" seems to be the motive of this film. The submission also generates delicate strategies of compensation, about how to fool the one to whom you apparently obey to, which is a source of ludic in the film, alongside the orality of the characters closely framed. The camera reveals a memorable cameo of each one of them in this film, which reflects a deeply gaze into a key transitional historical period.

Publication date: 1st of April 2015. Film Reporter, online publication, Romania.

"The Tribe": rites of passage in the pure cinema

The first feature of Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, "The Tribe", takes pla

audience being fully independent in its reception. Winner of Semaine de la

what seems to be a baptism in a boarding school of evil. It is also a sto

A tribe is a primitive form of economical and socio-political organisation

diminished evolution. After the initiation, the newbie does the inconceivab

of the girls. The society in which the boarding school lives in is one with

well-established equilibrium, though dysfunctional of the committed crime

forgery, corruption, even crime - though abnormal, they become, with rep

ce in a deaf-mute school and the story is exclusively developed in the sign language, the

a Critique in 2014, the film tells the story of a newcomer who is bullied by his colleagues in

ory of falling in love with the prostitute colleague, Anna, who is pimped by her peers.

n, constituting of a group of people who have common language and strict rules and a

ble: he tries to change the well-established hierarchy of the micro-society: he falls for one

hout any kind of human affection. The feelings are condemned and can only disturb the

es. The Tribe is a well-oiled machine of felonies: prostitution, procurement, violence, theft, etition, amoral and implicitly normal in this micro-social organisation of lawlessness.

The

naturalism

reminding

of

the Although, they have found a means of

Romanian New Wave, the intensely dramatic communication in order to understand each plan sequence, which is sustained by a real other: the sign language, which is more intuitive, violence of the scene which is accompanied only visceral and more adequate to our core. If by

environmental

sounds,

could

become "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must

tiresome, but violence is that way: recurring, and be

silent",

that helps to build suspense. Slaboshpytskiy is manages

to

then

Myroslav

translate

into

Slaboshpytskiy images

the

no bluenose, he never points with his finger at unutterable, the purest emotions, yet primitive the depravation of the boarding school where ones. the action takes place, he never approaches his characters in order to insist on some trauma

The director treats the tribe like an

deaf-mute people have to face. One must either observational documentary: he doesn't get accept the declared convention even from the closer to the character, likewise television beginning of the film and chase it until the end documentarists who keep the distance from the of the movie, or one can consider it pretentious primitive who are considered peculiar. It is a and superficial in order to build a shocking, harsh story of gestures and bodies in movement, the image for the sake of showing manifestations of audience being hypnotised by physical and immorality without purpose. On strong feelings, corporeal responses. The boarding school is a primary human emotions which draw to extreme reservation ruled by its own, it is an enclave in measures and actions one cannot apply mean- the normal world, where violence is predictable ingful monologues. The primary human being, through language. The tribal people act and lacking the appearances which the process of react without the warnings of the spoken coding and decoding in the spoken language language. The debate the film launches is not assumes,

that

being

to

materialise

the regarding the destiny of the cinematographic

unspeakable from our minds to the others, is a expression, one does not speak about the man driven by instinct, by passion, for whom the comeback of the silent film era or a change from social conventions which drive us (the ones scratch of the forms and filmic ways of without any obstacle or handicap) don't exist expression. "The Tribe" introduces a new ways to relate to humanity and its most powerful The youngsters of the tribal society are no emotions: hate, love and greed. The language different from the so-called normal ones, they of anxiety, of desire, of power, of sex is universal. just live by the rules of their own constructed society. The film actually launches a very Wrongly compared to the silent era of provocative idea: what if Wittgenstein was cinematography, "The Tribe" is a film which wrong and our sentences don't actually illustrate develops a different language. Unlike the the reality? What if "The limits of my language is exaggeration and the mimicry of the silent era, the limit to my world" is an affirmation to be the film presents the unutterable of this exclusive questioned? Because in the face of lacking a group. The diegetic sound, the alternation of the correspondence,

our

entire

interpersonal steady-camera with the sequence-shot also

communication would translate in a dialogue of follows the Russian school. the deaf.

The surrounding sound, registered during

The oneness of the measure of this film

the shots and not added in postproduction, shows in the interaction with the actors. The secludes the hearing audience from the tribe. biggest silent era actors were great artists of the Advancing Christian Metz’s idea that the sound pantomime,

masters

of

expressiveness,

could be an autonomous aural object, then, the otherwise the deaf and mute actors don't act separation between the image and the sound exaggeratedly to make up for the lack of sound, seems

possible.

Although

Myroslav but are people who express themselves with all

Slaboshpytskiy is not that radical, the inner their means, with their bodies, which they use sound of the objects, the noise of the repeated differently from us. That is the Tribe no one of us fights, the rustling of leaves, the slamming of the could belong to. The naturalism of the image is doors, the sex moans, are all parts of the world also the mark of the director of photography, the audience lives in, which in “The Tribe” who

is

also

a

remarkable

documentary

becomes an aural voyeur. That is why one can auteur. The medium chosen to express the even close his/her eyes, taking part in the fascinating, yet closed world is the most persistence of some scenes, because the sound adequate, there is no closeness, not even in the assists us, the ones disabled in the sign language framing of the image, because the real reception which we don't understand. The director doesn't is not available. Of course, films like "La voz de advocate for a strictly visual medium, he offers los silenciados" have spoken about the abuse of us the pleasure of aural voyeurism similar to the power in the minority of the deaf, but mostly scene of the murder in "The Conversation", borrowing from the methods of a long gone where the character listens to the sounds of the

cinema in order to honour it. "The Tribe"

crime and is overwhelmed and tries to abolish doesn't try to speak for the ones who can't, but them by switching on the television as uses exactly their method to create something background noise.

else without judging.

The similitudes are multiple: Haneke's suspense, In the end, this piece of art is the new the mix of Romanian New Wave and those “Dogtooth” with deaf-mute, yet elementary, cut Russian long takes, the harshness of the abortion down to the core of the closed community and scene and its primitivism closer to Cristian basic

primal

thinking

it

quotes.

Mungiu's "4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days"... but we have to notice the originality of the Ukrainian director who built his own means of expression.

"The Tribe" is like a rough diamond, beautiful in its imperfection, because it is purer and closer to Publication date: 10th of March 2015. Film what cinematographic language should mean. Reporter, online publication, Romania.

Of course, there are a lot of homages to the silent era films (see the acclaimed “The Artist”), but

"The

Tribe"

is

not

one

of

them.

"Le Meraviglie": I do not trample over world's corolla of wonders

“Le Meraviglie” / “Wonders” is an Italian-Austrian-German co-production directed by Alice Rohrwacher, who directed her second film after “Corpo Celeste”. The production was nominated at Palme d'Or and it has won the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival last year. With the young debutant actress Alexandra Lungu in the leading role, the film focuses on a multiethnic beekeepers' family.

Wonders presents an atypical family A dimension not much explored is that the portrait: the story introduces us in the world of a characters are psychoanalytical: an abusive family who lives practically in the middle of father, an absent mother, and the relationship nowhere, in a visibly disadvantaged area, yet between the TV hostess and the protagonist is untouched by the issues of the modern world. close to veneration. Though he poses as an Following tradition, along with his 4 daughters, Alpha male, the father is humane. At some point Wolfgang produces pure honey. His right hand, we don’t know if we are facing the agape type Gelsomina, is the one in charge, making up for of love, or the erotic one, the intimacy between the absence of a son. The peace is disturbed by him and his eldest daughter being a bit a contest TV show, "Il paese delle Meraviglie" uncertain. He is driven by instinct, by the fear of ("The Wonderland") presented by Milly Catena losing control of his innocent guileless daughters (Monica Bellucci), who promises those isolated over the voracious city. Sometimes, the father communities money and a better life. Obviously seems severe, but only because of his fear of quoting the Italian Neorealism, the protagonist losing to the temptations that money brings. He shares the name with the character from “La doesn't know how to behave; he functions well Strada”, but unlike Gelsomina ("an artichoke of only

in

his

own

environment.

a woman") being a child inside the body of a woman, this protagonist is an adult before time. The rural Italian world reminds me a bit of the bitterness of the Romanian one. The transition From the point of view of a coming of age story, has left out some people who could not be Wonders has some candour which reminds me integrated in the system, people who maintain of "La lengua de las mariposas" / “Butterfly”, vivid the traditions and crafts and who make a directed by Jose Luis Cuerda, expressing the living selling their own products. The director innocence of the rural world, though here with tries to explore its own region in order to less intervention from the political. Alice illustrate tradition by all means (the built heritage Rohrwacher explores in a similar way to Mario's illustrated by an abandoned Etruscan theatre Camus "Los santos inocentes" and "La pivellina" and the cultural heritage represented by the

by Tizza Covi the story of children forced by craft of beekeeping) and launches a debate circumstances

to

act/react

like

adults. about exploitation and ecology, yet also about

Fortunately, the social realism does not approach the regulations of competition in the modern a sermonic style here, and the TV contest is just world. These sub-themes are not obviously or a starter; it releases the action in order to draw categorically stated. In the film, this neutral attention to the social status of the family and it attitude which doesn’t incriminate nor judge, doesn’t present people changed / transformed gives the impression that a clear conclusion by the illusion of television.

cannot be traced. The arrival of a little punk, Martin, entrusted to the family by the social services, could have been a good pretext, yet the plot goes on without much change.

"Wonders" is more of a mood / atmosphere film, with an image that presents the nature and the surroundings in beautiful wide shots. The need to further define the characters is also felt in the type of shooting, without many close-ups, the characters are not developed enough for the audience to get to know them. The visible inspiration from the social films of Dardenne brothers is both a plus and a downfall because unlike them, Alice Rohrwacher doesn't build-up the characters, yet she uses the beautifully atmosphere she created without adding more tension. The slow-moving camera creates a very dreamy-like image.

The real wonders of the film are those little girls and the incredible, improbable bounds which keep this family together. The TV star illustrated

by Monica Bellucci imposes a certain distance, the part interpenetrates with the status of the actress in real life, that being of some kind of icon. Milly Catena is a symbol of the inaccessible star, living a life without hardships and worries.

Gelsomina is fascinated by this character because it seems less mundane. She is a link between the rural, innocent, careless world and the wonders promised by the townspeople.

"Wonders" is a feminine and feminist film (with an exaggeration of the term), warm, beautifully shot and excellently played by the debutant Romanian actress Alexandra Lungu. The corolla of wonders of the world that the philosopher Lucian Blaga was referring to isn't trampled and the scene in which Marinella, one of the little girls, sips with thirst a beam of light, feeds us with the magic of this little known world near us.

Publication date: 23rd of February 2015. Film Reporter, online publication, Romania,