Ghinionistul

I was just praying for it to be over sooner. Very food actors, some funny lines, but some ideas/ part of the scenario and of the dialogue were so bad we were embarrased to watch it

A low budget comedy with a simple premise, the down on his luck protagonist and his string of unfortunate events, Ghinionistul had me laughing or smiling all the way through it.

As seen from the trailer this is a low budget type of flick that doesn't actually show it, due to its modern approach in terms of shooting and editing. Have been waiting for this for a while in Romanian cinema...

Far from perfect but still providing good entertainment, sadly only Romanians will get the bulk of the comedy, and with a short run time of 90 minutes, this is a perfect choice for an afternoon movie. Simple, funny, and well acted, Ghinionistul major flaw is that foreign audiences will not get it.

'Ghinionistul' ('The Unlucky' or 'The Bad Luck Guy'), the comedy directed by Iura Luncasu, which I saw at the Romanian Film Festival, organized in Israel these days, reminded me of the Romanian joke about the guy who after passing away is given the opportunity to chose in what kind of hell he would spend the rest of the eternity. Naturally, he chooses the Romanian hell: neither the temperature of the pitch boilers is so hot, nor the demons are really devilish, and anyway, if you give them a hundred lei you can 'solve the problem'. This is about the atmosphere laughed about of this rather different feel-good movie, with many good intentions and original ideas, although not all of them realized. Well, a Romanian comedy ... but it's refreshing to see one after so many 'serious' Romanian movies.

The hero of the movie is Robert (Vlad Logigan), a young musician from somewhere in center Romania, who is convinced that he is born under a bad sign. He tries to meet ends not from today till tomorrow but from morning till noon or from afternoon to evening, he has two teenage sisters and a drunk father (Gheorghe Visu) in care, while his chances of becoming an achieved musician in a not very commercial genre (classic guitar) seem equal to zero. Everybody takes advantage of his kindness, the owner of the house he rents and the one of the local pub, the nymphomaniac mother of his guitar pupil, his father, even the local thugs who try to involve him in a kidnapping. Robert belongs to the category of comedy characters from Charlot to Benigni who conquer the hearts of the spectators and of the beautiful girls in the movies through their innocence and kindness. If he could only break the circle of bad luck.

What did I like? Vlad Logigan is the right actor for the role and acts very well. He is so good that it might be worth considering to make of this film a 'pilot' for a series. The script is well written, the moments in which the story trains are rare. The combination of social critic, comedy of situations and absurd works most of the time well and there are plenty of twists and surprises that keep the attention of the spectators. What I liked less? Excepting Robert, most of the other characters are reduced to stereotypes that fail to raise atop the levels of TV comedy despite the actors' efforts. The end seems to be rushed, the idea is good, but I believe that it deserved to be developed in several scenes. An extra dose of daring, even some insanity, could have transformed this movie from just another comedy into a film to remember. Even so, 'Ghinionistul' offers the audience another facet of a diverse cinema school, with talented and independent creators.

I entered the hall with a lot of hope taking into consideration that Gheorghe Viasu, a consecrate actor, would play in this movie. I took my sit and I waited, it had started.The lights and the colors were detached from an Hollywood movie, the smooth frames taken by the image director were stunning,astounding if I can say. Otherwise, what made me disappointed was the plot and the fact that the main elements from the intrigue were hidden.They got to the effect without presenting the cause. The end was deplroable, and the humour from this movie is for everyone. I am not recommnending you to go and watch this movie being full of hope, it's a film for the saturday night which you watch with a friend and laugh together, you and all the hall.

A simple but still funny comedy with good lines, well written. What really got me was the beauty of the locations the used(somewhere near Resita), that and good filming and directing made it worth watching.

P.S- This is the first Romanian film on Netflix, hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.