Top 5 Most Anticipated Romanian Films for 2011

2010 has been another good year for Romanian cinema. Lots of awards and many new young directors that confirmed films like 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days directed by Cristian Mungiu or Corneliu Porumboiu’s Police, Adjective weren’t accidents. As some people call it, the “Romanian New Wave”, continued to gain the world’s attention at film festivals through 2010, featuring new filmmakers that have just made their first feature film. Florin Şerban’s If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle, Bogdan George Apetri’s Periferic or Marian Crişan’s Morgen are among the highlights of the year. For the next year, there are many films waiting an international film festival and domestic release: Adrian Sitaru’s second feature From Love, with Best Intentions (Din dragoste, cu cele mai bune intenții), Virgil Nicolaescu’s The Godmother (Nașa), Alexandru Maftei’s Hello! How are you? (Bună! Ce faci?), Cătălin Mitulescu’s second feature Loverboy, another satirical comedy directed by Sergiu Nicolaescu: Romania’s Last Corrupt Man, Nae Caranfil’s Alice in the Comrades World (Alice în țara tovarășilor), Cristi Puiu’s Aurora, Constantin Popescu’s sophomore feature Principles of Life (Principii de viață, Radu Gabrea’s Red Gloves (Mănușile roșii)and many more. Below you’ll find my most top 5 Most Anticipated Romanian films for 2011.

#.5 From Love with Best Intentions (Din dragoste, cu cele mai bune intenții)
It’s Adrian Sitaru’s second feature, after Hooked (Pescuit sportiv), and his most personal project. The director wants to show us the reaction of a man facing a situation he can’t control and how he’s changed during this experience. It seems to be in the same minimalist style of other Romanian films and if everything will go as planned, this film will be one of the highlights of next year film festivals. Starring Bogdan Dumitrache, Natasa Raab, Alina Grigore, Adrian Titieni, Clara Voda, Adina Popescu, Iulian Postelnicu, Adina Lucaciu, Vlad Oancea, Gelu Colceag and Magda Catone, the film has been inspired by Sitaru’s own life and tells the story of a 33-year-old man, named Alex, whose mother suffers a stroke. And the director continues: “Although his mother seems ok, Alex becomes more and more irrational, antsy and paranoiac. This happens because, from love, with best intentions, we’re getting ignorant, blind and starting to make mistakes.” Release date is set for autumn of 2011.

#.4 Principles of Life (Principii de viaţă)
As the director Constantin Popescu said, it’s “a movie well-written by Răzvan Rădulescu (The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, screenwriter; First of all, Felicia, screenwriter and director; The Paper Will Be Blue, screenwriter) and Alex Baciu (The Paper Will Be Blue; Boogie; Tuesday, after Christmas), starring Vlad Ivanov (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days; Tales from the Golden Age), Gabriel Huian (Marilena de la P7) and Rodica Lazăr (The Death of Mr. Lazarescu), directed by Constantin Popescu (Apartamentul/The Apartment, Canton, Apă/Water, The Yellow Smiley Face, Tales from the Golden Age, Portrait of the Fighter as a Young Man).” Also, in 2010, Popescu’s first feature – Portrait of the Fighter as a Young Man (Portretul luptătorului la tinereţe), has received a lot of good reviews, being the first part of a trilogy – Almost Quiet (Aproape liniște) – dedicated to those who fought in the mountains against communism. Set for 2011 spring release, scripted by Răzvan Rădulescu and Alexandru Baciu, the film examines the rapport between father and son, and in a nutshell is about the generation gaps and the inability to communicate. Emilian Velicanu, 43, considers his life positively full: he has money, a new villa, he is married for the second time to a young woman with whom he has a baby and has a son from his first marriage. Before the holidays arrive, he makes plans to leave his business on autopilot during his time off, but complications ensue, and this end of the day crisis makes him wonder if he’s really happy and fulfilled. Players include Vlad Ivanov, Gabriel Huian, Crina Mureşan and Rodica Lazăr.

#.3 Loverboy
Cătălin Mitulescu’s film tells the story of Luca, a 20 year-old young guy who lives in Hârşova, a small town near the Danube. Luca seduces girls, makes them fall in love with him and passes them on to a human trafficking network in Constanţa. The policemen call this technique the “falling in love” method and the ones doing it are named “loverboys”. Luca’s life changes when he falls in love with a girl named Veli. He’s willing to give up everything he did before to be with her.
Release date is set most probably for the end of May 2011, but it is not a certain thing. Scripted by Bogdan Mustaţă, Cătălin Mitulescu and Bianca Oana, this is the second feature of Cătălin Mitulescu, the director of The Way I Spent The End of The World – Romania’s proposal for the Academy Awards in 2007, while George Piştereanu and Ada Condeescu are two young actors who made a very good impression in Florin Serban’s If I Want to Whistle I Whistle. George Piştereanu, Ada Condeescu, Bogdan Dumitrache, Clara Vodă star.

#.2 Hello! How are you? (Bună! Ce faci?)
Romanian films have received lots of awards lately, but the public is reluctant to go and watch a Romanian movie. The stories are gloomy, the everyday reality is on the screen, while, when watching a movie, the public wants to escape from all of that. That’s what Alexandru Maftei wants to do with his new film: to start a new era in Romanian cinema. He wants to make people laugh. He wants people to feel good watching a Romanian movie. He wants that, at least for about an hour and a half, the public would forget about everyday problems from both the past and the present. Scripted by Lia Bugnar and starring Ionel Mihăilescu, Dana Voicu, Adriana Trandafir and Adrian Păduraru, Gabriel and Gabriela have been happily married for 20 years but their sexual desire for each other no longer exists. Is this all life has to offer? After having spent a couple of nights chatting with a stranger on the Internet, they both fall in love – not knowing they have actually found each other. The passionate arousal for the unknown complicates with the guilt for cheating on a lifetime partner. Even more confused is their adolescent and sexually very active son Vladimir, when he finds out that his parents also have desires. One day an encounter of the virtual lovers becomes inevitable…Release date is set for March or April 2011.

#.1 Aurora
Written and directed by Cristi Puiu, sure this came out on the fest circuit last year, but it has yet to show up theatrically over here (release date is set for February 2011). Cristi Puiu has won Un Certain Regard award back in 2005, with The Death of Mr. Lazarescu and has also been nominated for Best Director category at European Film Awards. Aurora is his third feature film and has been nominated at Cannes 2010 in Un Certain Regard section. Puiu himself plus Clara Vodă, Valeria Seciu, Gelu Colceag, Sorin Medeleni, Valentin Popescu, Gheorghe Ifrim and Lucian Ciurariu star is the story that sees a 42-years-old man, named Viorel, a middle aged engineer, an angry man whose frustration with his life finally tips him over the edge.