Indie Movie Review: Tales From The Golden Age

Tales From The Golden Age Starring Diana Cavallioti, Radu Iacoban, Vlad Ivanov Writer Cristian Mungiu Romanian w/English subtitles

Think living in a Post- Bush, post Iraq economy is bad? Then try a light and airy peek into life under the Iron Curtain circa the 1980’s, in the Romanian film, Tales From The Golden Age, told in vignettes as light and airily made as food rationing, near starvation and government censorship can get.  The title is taken from the moniker with which the nation’s communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu dubbed Romania under his leadership.  While you can’t blame your ordinary, beleagured dictator for wanting to put a positive spin on things, the title The Golden Age is ripe for a clever, light-handed writer like Cristian Mungiu to go to town with a charmingly absurdist take on the vagaries of trying to make it without capitalism. Or freedom of speech. Or much food.  With a different director for every vignette, each story explores the various “legends” of the Golden Age, which all boil down to the ordinary Joes of Romania doing the best they can to get by.  Too bad Mungiu minimized the impact of his subject matter by breaking the stories down into a series digestible bites, rather than allowing more tension to build in a larger, more involving tale.

The first short is the most interesting and engaging of all the four. The Legend of the Air Sellers stars Diana Cavallioti as Crina, an ordinary teenager trying to save money for a class trip in the Spring. After school one day Crina answers the door to a visitor from the Ministry of Chemistry, who needs to take a water sample because of complaints about the water quality.  What ensues might seem like an ordinary teen age escapade/brush with the law, but also subtly informs as to the everyday conditions of life with polluted air, barely fresh water and a low grade societal deprivation that people get used to without ever really getting used to. Cavallioti does a lovely job of capturing both the awkwardness and savvy of the young, bright and striving Crina. However, the remaining instalments do not sustain the promise of the first piece. 

The cinematic sameness of each vignette, perhaps because they all take place in similar apartment complexes or rural settings, left me a bit drowsy by the forth piece. Mungiu is a master of subtlety and for this he should be commended. But it’s not impossible for subtlety, humor and dramatic tension to co-exist. The directors did not seem to distinguish themselves with each short.  Perhaps the script itself could have remedied this dilemma; by combining all the shorts (or at least two) into one story, this sameness might have said something about the dreariness of communism rather than the dreariness of risk free filmmaking. And although, the vignettes dutifully reveal that ideologies have no place in human survival, this movie, by the end, seems a bit slight.  

Romania, despite the absurdity of communism still seems like a nice, wholesome country on screen.   The comedy could have been served more by a real sense of threat and danger lurking in the background, but instead it all felt rather- mild. My own witnessing of poverty and political/racial repression in my native Baltimore doesn't feel much more pleasant than growing up in Communist Romania. Indeed, Romania looked like a pleasant, upscale ghetto in Springtime, with soft, bright grass and a very rustic, sweet quality to the scenes of rural life. (There used to be a project in Baltimore called the Murphy Homes that resembled nothing less than a floating prison).  The food also looked good, even in its government controlled scarcity.  Apparently, many Romanians don‘t think the old days were all that bad either- 49% of Romanians polled think life was better under Communism.  Indeed, the inability of the characters to engage in conspicuous consumption induces ambivalence in this viewer. The filmmakers could have made the struggle to afford a car more harrowing by shooting the film in the dead of winter. Instead, riding bicycles everywhere in the Spring seems like a nice, sustainable alternative to the use of capitalism’s porn stars- gas guzzling SUV’s. 

Other folks who have never known what it’s like to be without Tide or a fridge crammed with food might find the humorous touches in this movie more movingly ironic and weightier than I did.

Comments

[burberry bags outlet online]

you mean you don’t need a special tool? That’s refreshing! Thanks!burberry bags outlet online

[supra shoes uk]

I was searching for something like that for quite a long time and at last I have found it here. Your blog is better than others because of useful and meaningful posts.supra shoes uk

[cheap Chanel bags]

One is always on a strange road, watching strange scenery and listeningto strange music. Then one day, you will find that the things you tryhard to forget are already gone.cheap Chanel bags

[Monster beats studio]

There are certainly a whole bunch more details to take into consideration, but thanks for sharing this information.Monster beats studio

[wholesale jerseys]

I really loved reading your blog. It was very well authored and easy to undertand.

[Chanel outlet]

Chanel outlet are famous among womens in all age. Chanel classic bags will be associated with a number of efforts for you personally to females since these lovely Cheap Chanel are great design! Furthermore, Replica Chanel Bags is now able to utilized, not only viewable. This particular handbag can bring about a large variety with regards to features which will cause them to be beneficial and quite. Chanel prides itself with a product regarding smart design and style. Such as Chanel Cambon Bags.Just click here to shop together with lower price