Victor Rebengiuc

  • Lucian Pintilie – Balanta AKA The Oak (1992)

    1991-2000ComedyDramaLucian PintilieRomania

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    In 1988, Nela, a young schoolteacher, tries to carry out the will of her late father, an officer of the Securitate (Ceausescu’s secret police) who wants his body to be used for medical research. She decides to leave Bucharest to teach in a small provincial town, where she meets Mitica, a doctor at the hospital who is obsessed with saving the life of a Christlike patient whom the authorities wish to let die. They both share an odd sense of humor and see themselves as kindred spirits, but their relationship produces less than welcome results. The Oak is a vivid look at Romania before Ceausescu’s downfall.Read More »

  • Lucian Pintilie – De ce trag clopotele, Mitica? AKA Why Are the Bells Ringing, Mitica? (1981)

    1981-1990ArthouseDramaLucian PintilieRomania

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    Based on a theatrical text by Romanian writer Ion Luca Caragiale (1852-1912), who was a bitter and funny witness of the turn-of-the-20th-century Romanian bourgeois mores, Carnival Scenes manages to preserve and further enhance the slightly hysteric atmosphere of his plays. Pintilie creates a strange combination of carnival scenes which is brought to the screen as a burlesque, fast-paced, screwball comedy with a meditative undertone. This film was banned in Romania for a decade until the death of Ceausescu in 1989 and was only released after the 1989 revolution.Read More »

  • Lucian Pintilie – Niki Ardelean, colonel în rezerva AKA Niki and Flo (2003)

    2001-2010ComedyDramaLucian PintilieRomania

    Quote:
    A very black comedy (and virtually unknown in the U.S.), Niki and Flo is about ill-suited neighbors united by marriage. Angela and her husband have decided to leave Romania for a better life in the United States. Niki, Angela’s father, who is also a former colonel in the Romanian army, is torn between his wish to see his daughter happy and his desire to have her close by; meanwhile Flo, the father of Niki’s son-in-law and a domestic tyrant of sorts, slowly exerts his control over Niki. Courtesy of Filmex Romania. Based on a screen play by Cristi Puiu.Read More »

  • Liviu Ciulei – Padurea spânzuratilor AKA Forest of the Hanged (1964) (HD)

    1961-1970DramaLiviu CiuleiRomanceRomania

    Quote:
    During the most brutal days of World War I, Apostol Bologa (the extraordinary Victor Rebengiuc), a Romanian serving as a lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian Army, is part of the Court Martial that punishes deserters and other problem soldiers. Gradually the horror of his routine builds up inside of him, forcing a choice between his military duty and greater feelings of humanity. Ciulei’s most ambitious and masterfully realized film, particularly striking in its impressionistic landscape photography, the Forest of the Hanged earned Ciulei the Best Director prize at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival and became the first Romanian feature to attract widespread international attention. It remains one of the cinema’s greatest studies of the dehumanizing effects of war. Screening introduced by critic Magda Mihailescu.Read More »

  • Stere Gulea – Morometii AKA The Moromete Family (1987)

    1981-1990ArthouseDramaRomaniaStere Gulea

    The story of a family. Problems, marriage, taxes, revenge, friendship, army, life and much more…

    Quote:
    The movie is a portray of the inhabitants of an ordinary Romanian village,before the beginning of ww2.A dramatic story about poverty and ignorance..People ready to sacrifice their family members for a little more welfare.Sadness,misery.All seen through the eyes of a man less brutified than the others,a man who realizes his misery and tries to overcome it. It is a brutal and in the same time sensitive introspection in simple people’s life,a naked portray of their existence and inner battles.I don’t know if foreigners will find the story interesting or just repulsive but I can’t help calling it a masterpiece.The Moromete family could have been my grandparents.Read More »

  • Nicolae Margineanu – Padureanca AKA The Forest Woman (1987)

    1981-1990DramaNicolae MargineanuRomania

    In Transylvania, in the 19th century, the village birthplace of a rich farmer’s son is undergoing a cholera epidemic when he returns from studying at a university, and bodies are being removed from houses. Once at home, he spies the beautiful daughter of a local forester. However, one of his father’s servants has also seen her, and they become rivals in love. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie GuideRead More »

  • Lucian Pintilie – Tertium non datur (2006)

    Drama2001-2010ArthouseLucian PintilieRomania

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    Quote:
    It is the end of the Romanian war against the Soviet Union (but not the end of the WWII), as Germany and Romania are allies, but in a few weeks they will be enemies. Two German officers stop for a lunch with a group of Romanian officers and as the story develops, a pair of rare postage stamps are acquired in very different occasions, which underlines the differences between the group of officers. This deceptively simply short film has many complex ramifications about history, honor, about how material value translates in life and survival. Director Pintilie works beautifully with his actors, especially Victor Rebengiuc (a preferred actor of Pintilie) and his use of visual space in a small room is both inspired and effective.Read More »

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