As part of ongoing series I continue my countdown of the best films released in UK Cinemas in 2009.
#46 - Tales from the Golden Age (Constantin Mungiu/Cristian Popescu/Hanno Hofer/Ioana Uricaru/Razvan Marclescu)
"Humour is the absence of terror, and terror is the absence of humour."
Did you hear the one about the Romanian village committee that got trapped on a carousel, or the one about the doctored photo to make Nicolae Ceauşescu taller than the president of France? No? What about the one about the chicken farmer and the egg scam? Come on, you must of heard of the chicken farmer and the egg scam, it's a classic. Of course you would have to be Romanian and have lived through the despotic reign of Ceauşescu to totally appreciate the series of folk tales, myths and urban legends that arose throughout this tyrants reign, as a sort of rebellion, a joke that every one was in on, comedy as black as the regime that presided over it, as a way of coping and making sense of the insanity that prevailed.
Welcome to the world of 'Tales from the Golden Age' a reliving, a riposte to the days of the disastrous Ceauşescu era through the mediation of 'local legends' regarding the often quirky and far out acts people were reduced to in order to tow the party line or simply to survive its tyranny. Broken down into six separate chapters, short films, each chapter pre-fixed with the title 'The Legend of..' each story underscores the often irrational regime, the absurdness of it all and the sadness that defined an era, yet the tone of these stories never dwindles on the heaviness, abject seriousness of the consequences but rather laughs at it, pokes fun at the ridiculousness that the regime held itself, the way it made people act and the very fact it existed at all.
Overseen by Cristian Mungiu, the talent that brought wider attention to the 'Romanian New Wave' with his bleak but brilliant masterpiece and Palme d'or winner '4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days', he wrote the screenplay for all six stories and directed two of the segments, yet 'Tales from the Golden Age' is a different beast from his internationally acclaimed film, less austere, despite the context and lighter in tone. The structure of the chapters is to the films advantage, many anthology films suffer from the too many cooks dilemma, often with too many conflicting stories and styles that the whole gets lost in translation. Mungiu's anchorage is the important element here, at the helm he has managed to stamp his aesthetic on the entire project, all chapters follow the same sardonic, droll line with a deep dark humour punching through the pure absurdity of it all.
The styling of 'Tales from the Golden Age' is in keeping from one story to the next, all of them prevail with a twisted nostalgia, a baroque aesthetic that cuts to the core, exaggerated in style, reduced to parody in content but with all black comedy, it's the truth that makes us laugh and wince the most. However in it's strength also lies weakness, as one chapter passes into the next, stronger segments stand out and unfairly one can't help but compare and contrast, although all chapters revel in black humour some are more cohesive and funnier than others. Yet, despite length or impact, such as 'The Legend of the Zealous Activist' and 'The Legend of the Party Photographer' each segment remains a part of the whole, there are no wild cards here, each director pulls in the same direction, all point a finger at the regime and say 'Look at what you reduced us to and see how we laugh in your face'.
Probably the film that represents this 'laugh in your face' attitude the most is the films first chapter, 'The Legend of the Official Visit, which stands tall as a bastion of farcical comedy, akin to Milos Forman's 'The Fireman's Ball', where incompetence and the ludicrous expectancies of the regime meet head on. A motorcade is arranged and a village prepares in a fever of activity, painting houses, erecting banners, forming welcoming committees, only to be told their pigeons aren't white enough and that the motorcade is no longer coming. Angry and then hugely relived, the villagers get drunk and end up on the village carousel, only to realise that everyone got on at the same time and there is no one to turn it off, so they must remain on the carousel until morning, when at last the motorcade actually does arrive.
Whereas a chapter like 'The Legend of the Greedy Policeman', albeit farcical in subject; a policeman is given the gift of a pig from Christmas, when meat is hard to come by and his family face the problem of how to slaughter the animal in their small flat, without arousing the suspicion of their neighbours, the rage feels more palpable albeit muted, black comedy standing in for anger and the chapter feels more effective in its execution. Also 'The Legend of the Air Sellers' about a young couple, spurred on by a showing of Bonnie and Cylde con people out of their water bottle to sell on at local depositories, has the same mix and both tell of the absurdist levels people were reduced, committing crimes, in order to get around the bureaucratic nightmare of Romanian society. Air Sellers also demonstrates how any form of authority, even one as ludicrous as an air inspector, was adhered to and rarely questioned in fear of reprisals.
Each chapter follows the same lines and in amongst the black comedy, the ridicule and unveiling of the Ceauşescu regime, lies an open wound that the Romanians are beginning to explore in their films, their culture and in everyday life. In comparison with the gems already from Romanian shores, alongside Mungiu's Palme d'or winner, such as '12:08 East of Bucharest, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, Police Adjective, Aurora', Tales from the Golden Age' can appear a lesser work when compared to those starlets. It may not have the punch of The Death of Mr. Lazarescu or the introspection of 12:08 East of Bucharest but a more intelligent and entertaining; whilst also managing to uncover the years of pain, disillusion, anger, resentment and tyranny with both grace and bold humour, you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else.
#46 - Tales from the Golden Age (Constantin Mungiu/Cristian Popescu/Hanno Hofer/Ioana Uricaru/Razvan Marclescu)
"Humour is the absence of terror, and terror is the absence of humour."
Did you hear the one about the Romanian village committee that got trapped on a carousel, or the one about the doctored photo to make Nicolae Ceauşescu taller than the president of France? No? What about the one about the chicken farmer and the egg scam? Come on, you must of heard of the chicken farmer and the egg scam, it's a classic. Of course you would have to be Romanian and have lived through the despotic reign of Ceauşescu to totally appreciate the series of folk tales, myths and urban legends that arose throughout this tyrants reign, as a sort of rebellion, a joke that every one was in on, comedy as black as the regime that presided over it, as a way of coping and making sense of the insanity that prevailed.
Welcome to the world of 'Tales from the Golden Age' a reliving, a riposte to the days of the disastrous Ceauşescu era through the mediation of 'local legends' regarding the often quirky and far out acts people were reduced to in order to tow the party line or simply to survive its tyranny. Broken down into six separate chapters, short films, each chapter pre-fixed with the title 'The Legend of..' each story underscores the often irrational regime, the absurdness of it all and the sadness that defined an era, yet the tone of these stories never dwindles on the heaviness, abject seriousness of the consequences but rather laughs at it, pokes fun at the ridiculousness that the regime held itself, the way it made people act and the very fact it existed at all.
Overseen by Cristian Mungiu, the talent that brought wider attention to the 'Romanian New Wave' with his bleak but brilliant masterpiece and Palme d'or winner '4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days', he wrote the screenplay for all six stories and directed two of the segments, yet 'Tales from the Golden Age' is a different beast from his internationally acclaimed film, less austere, despite the context and lighter in tone. The structure of the chapters is to the films advantage, many anthology films suffer from the too many cooks dilemma, often with too many conflicting stories and styles that the whole gets lost in translation. Mungiu's anchorage is the important element here, at the helm he has managed to stamp his aesthetic on the entire project, all chapters follow the same sardonic, droll line with a deep dark humour punching through the pure absurdity of it all.
The styling of 'Tales from the Golden Age' is in keeping from one story to the next, all of them prevail with a twisted nostalgia, a baroque aesthetic that cuts to the core, exaggerated in style, reduced to parody in content but with all black comedy, it's the truth that makes us laugh and wince the most. However in it's strength also lies weakness, as one chapter passes into the next, stronger segments stand out and unfairly one can't help but compare and contrast, although all chapters revel in black humour some are more cohesive and funnier than others. Yet, despite length or impact, such as 'The Legend of the Zealous Activist' and 'The Legend of the Party Photographer' each segment remains a part of the whole, there are no wild cards here, each director pulls in the same direction, all point a finger at the regime and say 'Look at what you reduced us to and see how we laugh in your face'.
Probably the film that represents this 'laugh in your face' attitude the most is the films first chapter, 'The Legend of the Official Visit, which stands tall as a bastion of farcical comedy, akin to Milos Forman's 'The Fireman's Ball', where incompetence and the ludicrous expectancies of the regime meet head on. A motorcade is arranged and a village prepares in a fever of activity, painting houses, erecting banners, forming welcoming committees, only to be told their pigeons aren't white enough and that the motorcade is no longer coming. Angry and then hugely relived, the villagers get drunk and end up on the village carousel, only to realise that everyone got on at the same time and there is no one to turn it off, so they must remain on the carousel until morning, when at last the motorcade actually does arrive.
Whereas a chapter like 'The Legend of the Greedy Policeman', albeit farcical in subject; a policeman is given the gift of a pig from Christmas, when meat is hard to come by and his family face the problem of how to slaughter the animal in their small flat, without arousing the suspicion of their neighbours, the rage feels more palpable albeit muted, black comedy standing in for anger and the chapter feels more effective in its execution. Also 'The Legend of the Air Sellers' about a young couple, spurred on by a showing of Bonnie and Cylde con people out of their water bottle to sell on at local depositories, has the same mix and both tell of the absurdist levels people were reduced, committing crimes, in order to get around the bureaucratic nightmare of Romanian society. Air Sellers also demonstrates how any form of authority, even one as ludicrous as an air inspector, was adhered to and rarely questioned in fear of reprisals.
Each chapter follows the same lines and in amongst the black comedy, the ridicule and unveiling of the Ceauşescu regime, lies an open wound that the Romanians are beginning to explore in their films, their culture and in everyday life. In comparison with the gems already from Romanian shores, alongside Mungiu's Palme d'or winner, such as '12:08 East of Bucharest, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, Police Adjective, Aurora', Tales from the Golden Age' can appear a lesser work when compared to those starlets. It may not have the punch of The Death of Mr. Lazarescu or the introspection of 12:08 East of Bucharest but a more intelligent and entertaining; whilst also managing to uncover the years of pain, disillusion, anger, resentment and tyranny with both grace and bold humour, you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else.
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