MOVIE REVIEW – Tales from the Golden Age

After having put the Rumanian cinema on the chart thanks to his superb 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days which enabled him to put the hand on a very deserved Gold Palm at the Cannes Film Festival, Christian Mungiu invites scenario writers of his country to put in images some urban legends. In results Tales From the Golden Age, a series of sketches as funny as intelligent on the life under Ceausescu.
The idea does not fail to allure. Some directors known or not decide to gather to make revive an important period of their history. The concept is not new and it is especially applied to places (New York, Paris, Montreal, Tokyo), but with generally unequal and, ultimately, anecdotic results. It is not the case of this feature film in five times conceived by Christian Mungiu, Hanno Höffer, Ioana Uricaru, Ràzvan Märculescu and Constantin Popescu.
As its title indicates it, in fact the tales are with the honor, this way of telling a story which addresses to all the layers of the population. Extremely conclusive legends of the 80s under the dictatorship of Ceausescu, whose reign ended abruptly with the power – and handling – of television. Already in The Legend of the Official Visit, the inhabitants of a small town do all so that their village appears well with the eyes of the higher authorities. Not surprising that the worship of the image and appearances take as much importance. On a nice and burlesque tone, the story line develops fine and attaching characters who live extraordinarily normal situations. The satire takes a little thickness in The Legend of the Party Photographer when the critics oblige a propaganda sheet to modify a photograph of their Head of State so that he appears as large as that of the other nations! Even if a microphone disappears a little too tardily from a plan, the unit is followed with great interest, with an enormous smile on the lips.
The seriousness takes the top of The Legend of the Chicken Driver, probably the longest segment, which points out “inoffensive” corruption under the Communist regime and the always present need for obeying orders even if they seem eccentric. All that via an honest man who is brought to the crime with causes of the impulses that he feels towards a tempting woman. Still there, the irony takes the step on aspects much more moralizers, with an omniscient glance which never judges the hearts. That does not prevent from describing with meticulousness and a little cynicism the inventory of fixtures, in particular during The Legend of the Greedy Policeman, where a family seeks the best means of killing a pig without awaking the neighbors. The intelligence of the matter and the step eclipse these stereotypes which end all the same up appearing here and there. The icing on the cake remains with The Legend of the Air Sellers, a formidable allegory on capitalism under bottom of “Bonnie & Clyde”, with two individuals who seek to grow rich while benefitting from the naivety from their entourage. Without idle period nor superfluous moment, this absolutely brilliant final comes to close quite beautiful one of the best successions of short films to be distributed in rooms these last years.
For better seizing Romania and making a flying visit in time without never breaking with nostalgic and realistic fibers where politics, economics and the glance on the human one make good household, there is nothing better in this moment that these Tales from the Golden Age

Other stories that readers found helpful:

Posted by Kevin H on Jun 4 2010. Filed under Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.