Marius_Stan

-Plot: A tenacious journalist hunts the leader of a local police squad accused of inaction at an LGBT event in Bucharest. -A captivating movie that kept me on the edge of my sit. Congratulations, Dan Chisu! -Powerful, well established characters and excellent acting: Major Nicu Holban (Mihai Calin), journalist Liliana Calomfir (Diana Cavallioti), Coman (Emanuel Parvu) and Anca (Ana Radu, only 17 at the time of the filming). -Good script by Dan Chisu, with several themes woven into a colorful rug: the conflict between generations, the relationship with authority, attitudes toward homosexuality, the importance of tolerance, the depth of religion, various forms of love ... -Being right feels good. With the flag of righteousness in hand, various characters stump on law and morals, hurting love ones and themselves. -Several good final scenes in a quick succession. I thought: "What a good ending! But wait, this next scene is even better! OK, this is the real ending." -A movie about imperfection. -Quality cinematography by Adrian Silisteanu and editing by Letitia Stefanescu. It felt like a live news broadcast: dynamic, gripping. -What a difference 5 MINUTES can make! (?) -Let's go to the movies!

-Plot: Serban Georgescu tells his daughter the story of the Romanian people, touching upon customs, clothing, rural vs urban life, music, religion, politics ... -Good cast of kind, smart and good-humored Romanians: Ioana Parvulescu, Mihaela Miroiu, Sorin Ionita, Stelian Tanase, Theodor Paleologu and Vintila Mihailescu. -A documentary made with love and respect; I tip my hat to Serban Georgescu. -Ceausescu fell because daily life was miserable and the TV program was too short. -Outstanding collage of pictures and video clips from the old days. Kind of disorganized but then memory is randomly allocated. -Very little about the post-revolutionary Romania (after 1989). Risky. -Ceausescu fell because the electricity went out during soccer games. -Rural and urban Romania are slowly merging: electronic devices conquer the countryside and folk inspired fashion conquers the cities. -Good final scene: it is all in our mind! -Ceausescu fell because Romanians had enough. -Let's go to the movies!

-Plot: In the 1950s, a group of Greek-Catholic leaders is imprisoned at Sighet (Romania) and asked to convert to Eastern-Orthodoxy. -Good, complex script by Bogdan Toma, the right mixture of history and fiction. -A broad collection of wooden languages: the communists', the Securitatea's, the prison leaders', the soldiers', the Greek-Catholic clergy's, the Vatican envoy's, etc. Furthermore, the language used by Episcope Hossu (masterfully played by Radu Botar) changes from 1918 to 1950 to 1976. -What am I ready to give up for a just cause? Not easy to answer. I guess ... time. -Well edited. There is a scene in the prison hallway where after all have left the camera lingers by an interior gate for a few seconds, not too many, not too few, just enough to convey the loneliness and the despair. -Body pain goes down while praying. Including someone else's pain. -When I was a teenager, I had a secret "screen crush" on Maria Ploae. After decades, I found her as beautiful and as good of an actress as ever. -Nicolae Margineanu directed an impressive movie, a work of art. -Let's go to the movies!