Boogie

This is the first un-Romanian Romanian movie. It's the first Romanian film, after the '89 revolution, not built on social themes, on the subject of the Securitate officers or about how bad life is in Romania. It's the film we all needed like air: without intellectualized-psychological-metaphysical ambitions, without hidden metaphors born out of the dire fear of not being praised by critics. It's simply a film about the husband-wife relationship, about the father and husband responsibility versus the desire to party with old friends. "Boogie" is also the first movie that may very well have been American, French or Uruguayan. It doesn't matter it takes place in Romania; it doesn't exhibit the national character, it doesn't take apart the mechanism of the Wallachian soul, it doesn't realize the radiography of the Romanian society. It is simply a film about people in their 30's who try to reconcile marriage and partying, freedom and responsibilities, teenage and adulthood.

There are also shortcomings (but infinitely less important than the film's qualities): the annoying compromise aimed at pleasing the critics (that is the missing end, or conclusion, of the film, which, it seems, automatically marks it as an "art film"), generally speaking the paradoxical lack of sense of the movie (which seemed more of an episode of a good series), also casting Anamaria Marinca - one of the few finest Romanian actresses, who plays sensationally, but seems to be overqualified for this role.

Back to the qualities of the film: they all played exceptionally well; special mentions for the always excellent Mimi Branescu and for the funny as hell Roxana Iancu; dialogs are great; you even get to laugh heartily (a rare thing when it comes to Romanian films); it is never boring, not for one second; and it has some metaphors, too :)))) A special mention for the voluptuous pleasure with which the writers have the characters utter brand names, against the nowadays dimwitted trend of eliminating, to the absurd, their pronunciation at TV. It's a good thing the director comes from advertising ;) I would like "Boogie" to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship - between the Romanian movie maker and the public. The beginning has been made...

'Summer Holiday' follows the format audiences have come to expect from new-wave Romanian cinema - long scenes with fine actors using improvised dialog, filmed in wide shots by hand-held camera. The story unfolds over fifteen or so hours in a chilly coastal resort where 30-something Boogie is spending a few days Spring vacation with his pregnant wife, Smaranda and their young son. He runs into some old friends who persuade him to join them for a drink, and the evening leads to an opportunity for Boogie to misbehave. The film's shortcomings are apparent in the first scene on the beach where Boogie hectors his son for poor sand-castle construction skills and bickers with Smaranda - it's repetitive, lasts too long, and the characters are not particularly engaging. These flaws reappear in too many of the subsequent scenes where the actors portray the petty selfishness, irresponsibility and banality of contemporary life.

Even though the talented cast deliver authentic performances, the story and characters lack sufficient substance to make their efforts truly compelling. Despite the presence of Anamaria Marinca, who was so outstanding in 'Four Months, Three Weeks, Two Days', 'Summer Holiday' falls a long way short of the originality and intensity of the earlier film.

It's no exaggeration that "Boogie" could be considered, up to a certain point, a Romanian twinner of "American Beauty" - it's the same kind of drama, within its specific frame for early-middle-aged people. The characters here are in their early thirties; one could easily imagine that the incipient problems they are facing now will evolve into the full-blown tragedy acted by Kevin Spacey and Annette Benning.

Fact is that Radu Muntean's movie is not only deep and grave, but masterfully made. Same as in his previous two works, Radu proves again that he has a very precise and powerful feeling of the camera lens, picking in the most discreet way exactly those details and angles that serve to build-up the tension. The paradox here is that, although nothing spectacular is happening, the inner stress of the situation builds-up to almost unbearable levels. An important role is played by the several-minutes-long shots, patiently depicting the slow-paced actions and dialogs, with the surprising result of a very intense load of anxiety and apprehension getting pent-up.

Definitely, "Boogie" is carrying forth the well-fated New Generation in Romanian cinema!

I guess Radu Muntean was wrong by expecting his movie to have more appeal to the general audience than "Hartia va fi albastra". It's obviously too subtle and stylish. As one can easily notice, the uneducated spectators, brain-washed by the blockbusters, are simply unable to grok it.

Bogdan Ciocazan's struggle with the final good-bye to youth and ultimate step into maturity is convincing and full of feeling, and it really touches one's heart. What annoyed me for real were the reactions of the few baboons who left the theater, muttering about "hey, it ain't nuthin' but words 'ere, nuthin' does't 'appenin'!" Again, Tudor Lucaciu's cinematography is a perfect example of the new values reached by Romanian movie-making - but you need to have watched more than Nicolaescu and Dragan, shot by old-timers as Girardi, to fully appreciate a stylish photography.

As such, it's strongly recommended to see it - but, of course, only if you know what cinema is about. If not, no loss - "Poveste de cartier" is waiting for you, with its light-drowning images and hifi Dolby manele!

I regret wasting two hours of my life with this film. Plot-wise, it is utterly pointless, Dragos Bucur's unconvincing struggle with his midlife crisis managed only to annoy the hell out of me. Frankly, it was so bad that it became uncomfortable to watch and I even considered walking out of the theatre, but I endured eventually. Also, from a technical point of view, this film is the perfect example of a standard Romanian production. Sound quality and cinematography are ridiculous. The background noises manage to drown half of the lines (not that one misses much wit there). Everything that could go wrong in a typically Romanian film goes wrong. There is really no point in seeing this for yourself, save two hours of your life and watch something else.