Endstation Paradies

One meaning of "Terminus Paradis" is that all trains have to stop somewhere. This is true for human beings too as all of their journeys must inevitably end somewhere. This is precisely something which the maverick Romanian master Lucian Pintilie has shown in his film. At its core "Terminus Paradis" is an eccentric love story par excellence. When I say an eccentric love story, I mean that in this poignant story the end is not something which the lovers had always anticipated.The leading actress Dorina Chiriac has a charming doll like face. This has surely helped her to give dazzling touches to her very naive looking character. A lot can be said about Costel Cascaval's acting talents too. He has given a solid, convincing performance.Enjoy this film by drinking a lot of beer.

A story of several events all related to a crazy guy wanting a girl no matter what. Numerous adventures more or less deadly along the path to paradise.

Terminus Paradis is the movie that impressed me the most until now. It's about life and how to make a living. It's about the impossibility to make a family in Romania, because of hard living. The language is exactly the language of every Romanian: dirty, mean, sick, intrigant, etc. I personally know Costel Cascaval (Mitu in the movie) and I've discussed with him about this movie. Again I'm telling you: it's not a movie, it's a FACT, it's real life! And the actors, they're not acting, they just play their roles. Nothing is fake! Everything is reality! In the army service everything happens like you saw in the movie. In Romania, everything goes like it was presented there!

gray, cruel, cynical, poetic, dramatic, touching, maybe strange. the film of a state of soul. film of a profound crisis. and image of hope's lost. out of brutal language remains its special beauty. few magnificent scenes, few crazy scenes. and the splendid acting - Gheorghe Visu does one of his extraordinary roles. high result of a rare artistic team, work of a great director, it impose an admirable actor - Costel Cascaval who use , with force and precision, each trait of his character. a film about Romanian reality, a cry, it is a real good film. and after its end, that fact is only important. because the tension, the stories, the search of sense are only tools for an impressive movie. must see it ! and than it could become a kind of experience. not only an artistic one.

Terminus Paradis in one word: a mirror of real life, with shocking ideas, shocking words and images. Under this, a simple, but exhaustive analysis of post-communist Romanian life. The simple action, built on an American-like image, shows the pathological typology of the new "capitalist" mentality, adapted from the elder East-European one. The reactions of post-communist changes are different. Violence, on one side (like Cafanu, the hero of the story) and passivity, on the other side (like his colonel) are just a flash aimed on the Romanian mind.