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Reviews
Actorul si salbaticii (1975)
great film
This film is probably one of the best Romanian movies ever made. Great script, wonderful actors (among them, even the director Mircea Veroiu), ballet ensemble, good dramatic scenes, human mixture of comedy and drama, talking about a troubled period of history when tension was building beneath the apparent tranquility of everyday life. Small signals suggesting the end of Romania's golden age, between the two world wars, when our currency was stronger than today's major currencies. In my opinion, it is probably the most "Hollywood"-style films set in showbiz life, but still very Romanian. I also liked a lot Margareta Pogonat, as the star's understanding wife, and Marin Moraru, as the butler, another brilliant actor, an acting icon for entire generations. One of Toma Caragiu's unforgettable roles - that of a comedian teaching his people dignity at all costs.
Padurea de fagi (1987)
good, in spite of the propaganda
This is a movie I discovered only recently, when it was broadcast on TV. It is a very well-written story of a group of around 10 women working as telephone operators taken into a forest near Bucharest around the end of WWII, to help with the military communication. It was written by Francisc Munteanu, one of the most professional screenwriters Romania ever had. The women, beautifully portrayed by the well-cast actresses, were each nicely individualised, thus the story, in spite of its powerful pro-communist propaganda, is still vivid and human today. The main asset of the movie is probably the film's image, signed by the newcomer Cristian Comeaga, now also a respected producer.
In familie (2002)
The lives of a group of friends and their families in the new post-communist society.
It is the first 30' daily drama series ever made in Romania of the Eastenders/Coronation Street type and the first series with an entirely professional production system. It had a huge cast of over 20 regular actors, many of which were soon to become stars in subsequent series of other TV stations (Andrei Aradits, Adela Popescu a.o). A bit strange to the Romanian audience due to its western approach, ensuring an underlying educational side, the show gradually gained a regular audience. After a successful first season of 200 episodes, the series was inexplicably stopped just as the ratings were going up. Soon after, all major TV stations started to produce series, especially soaps/telenovellas and sitcoms, some of which used professionals trained by In Familie (e.g. Iura Luncasu, director of several successful telenovellas for Acasa TV.)