Every tale is engaging, but not wildly amusing — still, I can imagine Romanian viewers enjoying it. In other words, perhaps you had to be there.
Tales from the Golden Age (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:16
Fresh:16
Rotten:0
Average Rating:7/10
Runtime: 2 mins 18 secs
Genre: Comedies
Reviews for Tales from the Golden Age
Flashes of bleak humour makes this wry portrait a compelling experience.
It’s a frustrating case of individual triumph cancelling out collective cohesion in this sporadically enjoyable, if tonally mismatched, anthology of five short films.
Shot with clarity and plenty of dry humour, this impressive collection of five short films is proof of the youthful vitality of the New Romanian Cinema.
While this wry, sometimes poignant collection ultimately runs a little long, it serves as a useful introduction to the talent that makes Romania the place to look for exciting new voices in cinema.
The dark laughter involved is Romania's way of staying sane, not merely at the time but, also, in a way, right now. Comedy is a way of looking back at the horror without the rage and despair becoming unendurable.
What shines through is the proud spirit of the Romanian people, who found ways to endure in a system that veered unpredictably from the comically ineffective to the starkly insidious.
The film has been crisply shot, its static set-ups by turns inventively forlorn and bracingly comic.
There are no sharp instruments, just gentle barbs and pokes. Mungiu suggests that Romania under dictatorship was at worst a comically fearful bureaucracy.
Given what we know of Ceausescu's Romania, the Orwellian penetration of the state into every corner of daily life, the mildly comic, wistful tone of this portmanteau of short dramas seems puzzling.
Comical and endearing, Tales From The Golden Age lacks real bite or satirical sting but it does underline the Orwellian nightmare of a regime in which the party line must be obeyed regardless of logic, common sense or personal safety.
This is a film that tells us about a place and time we can't identify with through characters we can't help but understand.
The ironic, comedic tone used to depict these assorted urban legends always has a grim punchline to remind us that life under Ceausescu was no laughing matter.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 90% 90% | The White Ribbon | 12/30 |
| 100% 100% | Daybreakers | 1/8 |
| | Leap Year | 1/8 |
| 83% 83% | Youth in Revolt | 1/8 |
| | The Book of Eli | 1/15 |
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