Before Cristian MUNGIU made his Cannes Film Festival Palmed' Or winning feature 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007), he had already
written the script for Tales from the Golden Age , and later invited
four other filmmakers to come on board to direct the five shorts that
make up this omnibus. This film makes abundant use of black humour
to recreate a Romania ruled by Communist dictator Ceauşescu, during
which the people suffered great economic and social hardship. Living
under the twisted logic of a repressive regime did inspire a perverse
will to survive under any circumstance. In one tale a village of ordinary
rural folk are charged with ever more ridiculous and obsequious tasks to
welcome a Communist official; in another a man receives a live pig from
his village uncle for Christmas, and has to figure out a way to slaughter
the animal without attracting the attention of his neighbours and the
police; a third story concerns an official photo retoucher who has the job
of making Ceauşescu look taller during that pre-Photoshop era; a fourth
short is about a truck driver who has the task of conveying chickens
across country in food-strapped Romania under strict orders not to stop,
and when he does, calamity inevitably strikes; a fifth tale concerns a
Romanian couple, apparently inspired by Bonnie and Clyde, becomes
robbers who snatches not cash but glass bottles. The stories are inspired
by urban legends that may or may not be true, but nevertheless bring
out the very real sense of dark comedy and absurdity that characterised
the "golden age" of Romania.
As in its previous screenings, the film will have the shorts
arranged in different order. It remains to be seen which order we will be
treated with; but one thing for certain is that the intended confusion
is a direct response to the experience of living under the authoritarian
regime.
"Very funny, sharp-eyed and hugely revealing" — Daily Telegraph
"In turn, absurd, hilarious, poignant and curiously aff ectionate" (top
10 fi lms from Cannes 2009) — The Times
Romania, France / 35mm / Col & B/W / 2009 / 131mins
In Romanian with English subtitles
2009 Cannes International Film Festival
(Un Certain Regard)
Pro: Cristian MUNGIU、Oleg MUTU
Dir: Cristian MUNGIU、
Ioana URICARU、Hanno HÖFER、Razvan MARCULESCU、
Constantin POPESCU
Tickets
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