Transylvania

As far as I am concerned, cinema exists primarily to watch films like Tony Gatlif's Transylvania. It is full of life, love and loss, pain and sorrow, music and dance, culture and superstition. No-one with a heart can help but be moved by this ode to life and the Romany way.

Gatlif has made a career of showcasing the Romany, the culture of the gypsies. Credited with writing, co-writing and arranging virtually all the music in Transylvania, he clearly has a love of music that is infused within his films. This latest effort depicts a woman (Asia Argento) who leaves France and travels to Romania in search of her boyfriend, a gypsy musician.

The infusion of music and dance into the story is pure cinema magic. The cinematography, use of light and use of imagery are all magnificent. The choice of actors, both professional and non-professional, is excellent. Their comings and goings within the film are unpredictable, adding to the believability of the story, as crazy as it gets at times.

Asia Argento really is the star of the film. Her passion, strength and intensity are at the core of the story. Her rendition of gypsy womanhood as Zingarina is for me a landmark performance.

Gatlif showcases the bleak yet beautiful countryside and rural decay of forgotten lands, depicting a way of life that is slowly dying. His love for this culture and respect for those who are part of it is evident, and his depictions of it are electric, exhilarating and moving. The film's ending is amazing.

For me, this is close to as good as a film gets and is my equal favourite for the year so far. There is so much to like about it and I can't use enough superlatives. This is must-see cinema.

come form Transilvania and I lived there as a Hungarian ethnic minority. I watched this film in Budapest, and I liked it very much. Still, some of my Transilvanian friends told me that they are embarrassed to tell other people about this movie, because it shows only the "bad" things about Transilvania, and foreigners will think that this country is full of gypsies and poor people. Well, I don't have this problem. Gypsies do exist in Romania. And anyway, this film is not a documentary. It is a subjective movie, using Transilvanian images, music, impressions. It shows mostly gypsies,yes, but hey, the story IS about gypsies. This film might contain mistakes (for example, they showed Romanians from the Maramures region dancing on a street festival together with Hungarian women wearing costumes from a completely different region). But this doesn't matter! Of course not everybody is gypsy and poor in Translivania. But who would pay to watch a documentary called: FACTS ABOUT TRANSILVANIA?? It gives a general impression, which is not that bad at all. Those who think this country is only miserable, will think this anyway. I was singing loudly the Hungarian, Romanian and gypsy tunes in the cinema, and I was proud to show that I know these songs. It also gave me this mystical feeling of my home country, which I will never lose. People are not better or worse there , but they are different, and I like it. If the film raises curiosities and debates, foreigners will visit the country, and they can make their own opinions. Maybe they won't find witches and magic, but they will definitely sense a special feeling. And for that this film was an excellent means.

Zingarina (Asia Argento), who is two-month pregnant, travels from France to Transylvania with her friend Marie (Amira Casar) to seek out her lover Milan Agustin (Marco Castoldi) that was deported from France. They hire the guide and interpreter Luminitsa (Alexandra Beaujard) to help them to find the musician Milan. When she finds him, she is rejected and Milan tells that he was not deported, but left her.

Zingarina has a breakdown and leaves Marie on the road, wandering with a street boy. Soon she meets the traveling trader Tchangalo (Birol Ünel) and she joins him in a road travel without destiny.

"Transylvania" is a pretentious, boring, senseless and pointless love story. Pretentious since it is spoken in several languages without coherency with the character's nationality and has a cheap surrealism. Boring since there is no story or character development, only a storyline filled with music, giving the sensation that in Transylvania there are only vampires and music (sorry for the joke). Senseless since nothing makes sense in this movie. Pointless since there is no message and no nothing but a senseless love story. The good thing is the cast that is excellent, especially for me since I am fan of Asia Argento. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Transilvânia" ("Transylvania")

So I guess it has to do with the fact that I left Romania 8 years ago that I find this movie so .. Romanian. Truly enchanting. Human. Real. Refreshingly spontaneous. :) - it is easier to perceive something objectively once you've stepped out of it. There are SO many moments where I was simply entranced with the reality of it all, the "wow, I know exactly that spot" Granted, there are things missing from the landscape and some things are exaggerated but it's a MOVIE and overall I found the story, the message , the setting, the characters, the music - fantastic! I am crying because I know this reality that we hate so much in Romania now will be soon obsolete (yee) by the fake lawns and malls and permits to go into the forest. Mark my words, people will watch this movie in 20 years and get very very nostalgic over it. I have my own copy and intend to keep it safe :)

There has been a lot of criticism of this film based upon it's name. I do not believe that writer/director Tony Gatlif was trying to make a documentary, but just using the locale to tell a strange story of an Italian girl (Asis Argento) who is consumed by the gypsy culture when she loses her lover.

It is a strange mix of music, much of it composed and arranged by Gatlif, some religious customs (exorcism) and a lot of gypsy culture that was fascinating for the costumes and the joy of living that was expressed.

I would not even attempt to try and express a message from this film. Everyone who watches it would come out with something different. It is a different type of movie; somewhat akin to observing a painting and trying to guess the artists intent.

Check it out for Argento's fantastic performance, as well as that of Birol Ünel.