Liceenii

like many other films from the same period, it is part of a way to discover and present the reality, not inspired for the taste of today , but useful. for the public of "80 years and for to resist to the pressure of propaganda. its success is not surprising in the context of Ceaușescu regime - "Liceenii" was a fresh air mouth and one of the small escapes from the circle of official speech. sure, it is naive and uses clichés, sure, the situations are not always credible but it was the beginning of admirable actors and proposes interesting, maybe seductive, in few cases, characters. it represents the first part of a link. and reminds, to few generations, the atmosphere, the feelings and the enthusiasm of high school years. and its music "Ani de liceu" is so well - known than represents, against the not most inspired lyrics - but it is not surprising for Romanian musical industry - a brand.so, a film about the spirit of a beautiful age.

The movie is a highschool love story involving two young freshmen. Mihai, just arrived from a province city to the capital Bucharest falls in love with Oana, a young and modern girl. Their love story is full of passion and naturalesse and almost makes you cry. I wold say the movie is a young version of the classic Love Story.

As it happens, I was an assistant director to this movie - so my comments will provide some really valuable inside info.

Not surprisingly at all, the script was quite lousy. George Sovu, an education department inspector, was trying his hand at screen-writing, careful not to offend the communist authorities... I remember so well how exasperated Stefan Banica was - during the rehearsals, he was telling me: "I should paste on my brow the Communist Party status!"

...But what really saved the movie, was Nicolae Corjos' talent - his unique feeling of making it true. While shooting the most sensitive scenes, he used to say: "Now, silence, please... we must concentrate... and a sort of magic gets created, helping our actors to play their roles..." So, it's not surprising at all that this movie had such a box office success. Nick Corjos really knew how to talk to his audience.

I only saw this movie this week, which could mean about twenty years late. But no. Not too late. I would say, just in time. It brings back the time, when I went to school. It brings back exactly the way it happened. Yes, it was hard, sometimes brutal, sometimes grotesque. But those years were so beautiful for so many of us. And this movie manages to show us all the good things, but none of the bad ones we remember from that time. Yes, the acts seem pale or even fake sometimes. But only we know, why it does. We know and we feel it. And we are grateful to the makers of this movie. Most of those who will read these words have no idea, what it took to make a movie like this in the late eighties in Romania. One risked not only his/her career, but the very existence. People were actually imprisoned for not giving up artistic ideals. Yet, this movie works! But only for those, who had to "privilege" to grow up during the communist era in eastern Europe. You can find breath-taking sights with a Lonely Planet book in your pocket, but it takes years of day-to-day life among the locals, to start understanding what you see. The same way, one would have to go back in time, go back to Romania, to understand, to feel this movie.

Times really have changed, that's for sure. Unity is gone and so, who cares for more but himself? Too few, that's for sure. This is the only piece of fact I was able to extract intact from the film. The only intriguing idea. The rest is easily forgettable.

The story itself did make me raise my eyebrows in disagreement, but I can hardly criticize things which I could not live through. As a whole, the story isn't even the real issue. It will make you smile, grin and maybe think a bit, but I consider this to be a film for the youth, a message to a certain extent. It's easy to connect to it, in this regard, but I fear the movie falls far short of delivering to its full potential. The fault lies at the actors, who are terribly stiff and almost repugnant in their ignorance. The closest to being an actor comes the one who plays Ionica, the troublesome best friend of lead actor Stefan Banica. By far the worst acting performance I have seen in a long, long while is the one of Oana Sarbu who is so distant and so lacking expressivity that all her charm and beauty can not compensate enough.

In total contrast to the disastrous acting is the main theme which simply reaches exhilarating heights. In a funny kind of way, that is. It generally gives the monotonous scenes some flavor and were it not for this, I don't think I could've bared to watch the whole movie.

Sure, it isn't something you'd necessarily be proud of. I wouldn't. Still, it's fine enough not to bore to the core and, despite those terrible acting performances, I'd suggest it for a beautiful summer day. I suppose it's got an undeniable charm - innocence and youth in the system, or something like that. 5.5/10