Veni, Vidi, Fugi: I came, I saw, I fled

From its Incipit, which brings the audience to Constanta, on Romania's Black Sea Coast in the year 1989, the medium-length film "Veni, Vidi, Fugi" seems to announce some sort of revisiting to director's native lands, possibly converted into an evocative "Axis Mundi". The unusual note hits us right away though, when we catch sight of the Roman Poet Ovid, exiled to Tomis 2000 years ago in 8 AD, immersed in reading a letter, while the protagonist's voice - a Constanta 12th grade student who is in huge trouble in his Latin class, ''flows" over the fluid travelling shot capturing Ovid's desolation (cultural touch which has brought to the film a special award in Montecatini Festival). As two millenia are compressed instantly through this juxtaposition, we are then thrown through Viorel Sergovici Jr's dynamic camera style into the midst of a romantic innuendo initiated by the protagonist trying to win the heart of a classmate via nonchalant maneuvers, verging on an almost bully-like seducing style. We discover the protagonist is played by "perpetual teenager" of Romanian Cinema, Paul Diaconescu, now almost 30 and yet almost never used at the level of high potentiality demonstrated in the Acting University shows and even coming under a negative spotlight in a production such as "Mamaia" (2013, Jesus del Cerro). In "Veni, Vidi, Fugi" (2016) the young actor though forges a convincing partnership with Constantin Florescu, maybe also because the former outwits the long pattern of supporting roles in which he ''got trapped", ''becoming" an icon - Publius Ovidius Naso, "captured" during the exile and decay stage and yet vital enough to remain a Cicerone and mentor to the young protagonist from a remote province of Rome (Tomis, on the Black Sea Coast). The partnership between protagonist and Ovid is a construct based on a parallelism which could appear somewhat artificial in the absence of any background of "bitter comedy" and also if missing one crucial plot element - both characters - Ovid and the protagonist - tie their destiny to the nieces of the major authority figures in their worlds - both brutal dictatorships - (Ovid, to Iulia, the niece of Emperor Octavian Augustus; while the protagonist is involved in an intense courtship of Iulia, his attractive classmate, who is also the niece of his morose and ominous high school's Principal.) By extracting supremely privileged "insider information" on Ovid's tribulations - from Ovid himself, the protagonist succeeds in winning over the Latin teacher, a sexy and sarcastic Maia Morgenstern (winner of two film festival awards for "Best Supporting Role" for" Veni, Vidi, Fugi" in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Sydney, Australia ). Escaping from the Latin class ordeal, the protagonist's romantic interest shifts - and this is a good plot point of the script that won already this year's "Best Script in International Category" at the Film Festival in Jaipur, India, from classmate Iulia, played with aplomb by less known Malina Tomoiaga, to the "Femme Fatale" played by Raluca Aprodu (mistress of a local Party big shoot and informer for the Securitate - Ceausescu's secret services), who seems to be under a favorable star in last years, as she has achieved definitive recognition in Bogdan Mirica's 2016 "Dogs". The individual's clash with the Establishment seemed to be also at the very center of an older short film by Robert Eugen Popa,( "Regression" - 2011 - winner of "Best Director in Short Film" Award at Corinth International Film Festival 2012 ), built as "Veni, Vidi, Fugi" on a script written together with former UCLA peer and buddy, Timothy M. Brice. From that older film - actors Dorian Boguta (plausible and versatile in the lead role, with the exception of the final scene where there is a credibility slip from his otherwise "chameleonic" range ) Geo Dobre and Claudiu Trandafir are brought back, last two as a pair of secret agents to enhance the directorial comic vision, that is also well supported by Ovidiu Vacaru's fast pace editing. Intense "chromatics" is the portrayal of the nefariously funny criminal trio of the Pig Bros, out of which the Geavit character offers to Elias Ferkin a very earthy role to think his teeth into, at least after the preponderantly mystical characters played in "Kasimir" ( 2013, Directed by Dorian Boguta) and "4.15 The End of the World" (2016 Directed by Catalin Rotaru & Gabi Virginia Sarga). There is no doubt that the complex target of an elaborate historical recreation of the two eras represented in the film would scream for very different financial resources than the ones available to this production. That being the case, the authorial voice falls on the paraphrase (starting with Caesar's title twist, which rather reminds us of Napoleon's witticism "La seule victoire en amour c'est la fuite") coupled with a obvious eloquence of some characters and a certain intertextuality, meant probably to soften the tragedy of the exile theme: the 12th grade student seems to be opting for radical escape, while Ovid seems to be "going native", in the most accentuated Balkan way, on this remote outpost of the Black Sea Coast. Intellectually skeptical, but pragmatic and very ambitious, the Screenwriter-Director Robert Eugen Popa has ample material and a feature breath for "Veni, Vidi, Fugi" - and other features to come, whether in Romania, the United States or wherever abroad, because, as Ovid's life taught us, the artist doesn't meet always with his homeland imperatives.

I agree strongly with the above reviews. This is a phenomenal film touching on the echoes of history, art vs. state, imagination vs. dictatorship; all within 29 minutes.

The story opens with Ovid exiled under what is now called Constanta, Romania; no longer an oppressive Roman state, but operating under the communist regime of Ceausescu in the 1980s. We learn Ovid was exiled by the Augustus Caesar and lived here, wretched and unknown, pining, until his death, to return to Rome, where he had once been its most famous poet. His mentoring of the young student has all the sweet irony of the iconic historical figure meeting the dismayed protagonist, all with a nostalgic view of what must have been a very difficult period to live through. One is reminded of Midnight in Paris, Amacord and Mean Streets all rolled up into a Balkan surprise.

We are immersed in the character's dilemma: history echoing, exile, entrapment in a Byzantine system ruled by Ceausescu's dreaded secret police, while there is the incredibly obsessive mirage of the West and the need for ingenuity in order to succeed in outwitting the brutal Romanian Government.

I would like to point out the wonderful characters that are generated and acted by first-class portrayals. The young protagonist K is played superbly displaying all the angst and drama of a young man trying to negotiate his way to manhood. Ovid, is utterly believable - played straight with no irony. One feels that the classic poet has indeed been conjured out of the past. I would love to hang with the Pig Brothers just for enough time to gain a lifetime of hilarious anecdotes. Lastly, the young women are played with true coquettish and dramatic intentions by wonderful actresses.

My only complaint is I wish it was longer. There is so much potential here. There is a subtle use of camera framing and movement that fulfills all the dramatic goals while never seeming contrived or superficial.

Bravo, Well done!!!

There is more than a touch of magical realism in the connection of K, the 12 grade protagonist of the film, trapped in the last years of Ceausescu's "golden era" and iconic Roman poet Ovid, (the protagonist's larger than life alter ego in the film, perhaps ) exiled in the year 8AD, from Rome to the the ancient city of Tomis, on the Black sea. (current day Romania).

Despite the relentless propaganda of Caesar Octavian Augustus, that tried "to sell" to the Roman people, his 41 years reign as the "golden era" of the "Republic", Caesar era was one of brutal repression, political assassinations and intimidation.

A well thought scene that caught my attention shows one suggestive gesture of the Latin teacher that suddenly seem to be descending into an inner looking mode as she observes as bird -that we as audience, hear somewhere off camera - as she discusses about freedom (or lack off during Augustus's reign 2000 years ago and indirectly commenting on the oppression on Romania at the time of the story,in the 80's ) during the Latin class.

Ovid's is haunted by the obsession to return in secret to his beloved Rome and enlists the local support of K, charismatic and capable of improvisation, but who will have to overcame both, the fear of such a radical action and the fact he's broke, in order to outwit the Romanian Establishment.

Witty satire of the 80's Socialist regime in Romania as the film has abundant mordant irony ? Hypnotic fable? An ingenious and lyrical fantasy comedy? Probably somewhere at the intersection of these 3 genres.

"I came, I saw, I fled" is a well crafted film which I highly recommend!

I believe Veni, Vidi, Fugi it's really a very refreshing, new type of comedy (or comedic film as it might not be exactly a classic type of comedy)

There is a realistic treatment of the situations and the Roman poet Publius Ovidio Naso "appears" only as the protagonist who is pushing the always bickering couple credibly into a hilarious "fantasy comedy" zone.

The chromatic is very vivid and intense - especially during the discotheque scenes - thus leading to a sharp contrast with the way in which the Communist dictatorship is usually represented and an intensification of the already hilarious situations.

I was really fascinated with the subject matter and the script's structure and I hope to watch soon other films by the same authors.

You want to watch it and then watch it again. This is the feeling that one is left with, upon watching "Veni,Vidi,Fugi".

This short film written by Timothy M. Brice and Robert Eugen Popa (as well as directed by Robert), succeeds in keeping the audience enticed from beginning to end. Mixing several layers of the story with different characters popping in and out within the parameters of a very catchy aesthetic coupled with a very elaborated narrative.

The film is infused with some sort of idiosyncratic mix of rich story, humor, mordant sarcasm and social criticism.

The elaborated mise-en-scene combined with a suggestive cinematography consistently support the plot, mood and ultimately the climax.

The script makes you really want to spend more time with the characters. A special word should be added for the nuanced role of the disenchanted Latin teacher during the dictatorship years, played by Maia Morgenstern. The spectator is equally immersed in different plot layers, parallel actions, contemporary reality and a similar story from a different historical era, which are all skillfully connected to the main plot.

This short film from Romania leaves you desiring more and one could very easily see its story becoming a feature film in the future.