TIFF: Romanian new wave vs Mainstream
Romania suffered from the heat this June. In Cluj-Napoca, for example, it was 35°C. Under such circumstances, it was very nice to hide in the darkness of the old cinema and watch the program of new Romanian cinema, which our FIPRESCI jury had to judge. A total of eleven films: eleven statements on modern and historical topics from debutants, as well as those directors who do not yet have a strong filmography.
This program was made up of both feature films and more arthouse feature films, as well as documentaries. In addition to Isabel von Tent’s film Alice On and Off, awarded by our jury, another one stood out in the program – Andrei Cohn’s Holy Week (Săptămâna mare). This is almost the only film among these eleven films, which can be counted among the so-called “New Romanian Wave”.
In this story Leiba lives with his wife and son in a small Romanian village at the end of the 19th century. This Jewish family is quite wealthy; locals come to work for them. One day, on the week of Easter, a conflict occurs between Leiba and his Romanian employee, and Leiba fires the local. An angry Romanian, full of anti-Semitic prejudices, threatens to take revenge on a Jewish family. This is how Leiba’s life turns into real paranoia. The film is an adaptation of the book “An Easter Torch” (1889) by Romanian writer Ion Luca Caragiale. This is perhaps the most professional work in the competition, describing with meticulous detail the difficult life of a Jewish family in Romania. The film was previously shown in the Forum section of the Berlinale.
Romanian directors of the so-called “new wave” profess a realism, which is based on the aesthetics of documentary cinema: filming on location, long shots and natural lighting. Thanks to their perfect scripts, the filmmakers show a world where people are still suffering from the bureaucracy, poverty, and corruption that was supposedly eradicated with the death of Ceausescu in 1989. Cohn’s film, although not dealing with the theme of socialist realism, still meets the basic criteria of the New Romanian Wave. Most of all it reminds Radu Jude`s Aferim! (2015).
Appearing almost out of nowhere and making their films with small budgets, young directors took Romanian cinema to a new level in the 2000s. The unprecedented international success of new Romanian cinema since 2001 has attracted the attention of critics around the world. Admirers such as Steven Zeitchik in the Los Angeles Times noted the “authentic narrative” or that “the Romanians can’t make a bad movie. It is illegal in their country. Or at least not in their DNA.” But Derek Elley from Variety wrote that “it’s easy to assume, from fests’ picks, that (currently “hot”) Romanian cinema is all grungy, DV-shot, miserabilist dramas”. Critics were as if hypnotized by the new Romanian films, while even those who were not in favor of the new cinematographic style casually recognized some of its features, among which was the ability to create real depressing dramas.
A rather depressing theme—a child’s battle with cancer—is at the heart of another film in the programme,Where Elephants Go (Unde merg elefanţii) by Catalin Rotaru and Gabi Virginia Sarga, but the film ends up being more of a typical mainstream melodrama. In it, 23-year-old intellectual Marcel wanders around the city in search of food and sex. One day he meets nine year-old Leni, who is battling cancer and has her own exceptional sense of humor. By coincidence, Marcel also knows Leni’s mother, a waitress by day and prostitute by night. Marcel and Leni have to go through a number of funny and sad adventures. This melodramatic film is most reminiscent of Russian arthouse films, however, Bucharest here is an attractive hero in its own right.
Another film in the program tells a story with comedy moments: Horia (Horia) by Ana-Maria Comanescu. The protagonist, Horia, will soon turn 18, on this date his father gives him a vintage Mobra moped and invites him to go camping. However, Horia has other plans: he wants to go to study in Cluj with his girlfriend, with whom he had several dates last summer. After a quarrel with his father at night, he runs away from home, gets on a moped and leaves for Cluj. But Mobra is a very slow mode of transport that requires gasoline and maintenance, and Horia does not have a driving license. This causes a number of failures. Also on the journey, Horia meets a 13-year-old travel companion who will brighten up his misfortunes. An example of a commercial road movie, sort of Jeff Nichols’ Bikeriders in Romanian. Such a film can easily be imagined in the national Romanian distribution, and the audience will gladly go to it. It is a light film, where you can relax and laugh your heart out.
In any case, it is nice that Romanian cinema was presented at TIFF in all its diversity of genres and included films that are located at opposite poles for the viewing audience.
By Nataliia Serebriakova
Edited by Savina Petkova
© FIPRESCI 2024