In 1911-12, the Romanian movie director Grigore Brezianu and the financial tycoon Leon Popescu made together the 2 hours long movie "Romania's Independence" - an as faithful as possible screen adaptation of the real Independence War that had been fought in 1877. Now, "Restul e tacere" tells us, in a loose and half-fictionalized way, the story of this movie making.
Reviews
it could be another successful film of a special Romanian director. or the return of Romanian cinema to the historical genre. or occasion to see great actors in impeccable performances. or, just, a different film. but its virtue is the status of beautiful homage. to film. to sacrifice of few idealist people. to a slice of Romania modernity. to figures who looking for change everything. it is a basket with stories. love, humor, dramas. and the beginning of Romanian cinema. the same flavor of films and making of and clashes between different visions. for me, "Restul e tăcere" has two fundamental virtues : the original portrait of the king Carol I, the splendid presence of Ioana Bulcă. and , sure, the impeccable atmosphere.
For 20 years I have been waiting for a Romanian movie that I could actually enjoy. Don't get me wrong, I am not about to comment from an advised point of view the post-revolutionary Romanian cinematography - I am sure it is of great value, but I have simple tastes - I like emotions and I like beauty wherever I can find it. Seeing this movie I was moved to tears by its simple yet very clever story, nice decent humor and lovely settings. And hearing again my lovely language - I cannot tell you what it felt like - no swearing, no ugly words, just pure poetry. THANK YOU. This last part of my message is addressed to the administrator of the IMDb site. I must say I am not particularly pleased with this rule that states that our comments must be at least 10 rows long. Comments should be as lengthy as they must be, I see no reason why I should invent things just to get published.
Well first of all I like the title : it is very suggestive , very theatrical . This movie is a needed change of rhythm in the Romanian cinema because it is depicting an episode of pioneering cinema in Romania . The year is 1912 but INDEPENDENCE WAR do not forget : is not the very first Romanian movie , maybe it is the first historical movie , even from the historical point of view the real UNION came in 1918 with Basarabia and Transilvania joining Valahia and Moldova ...but we are getting too much into national history .That era depicted in film is when Bucharest was opening more to European influences and especially french culture , it later became LITTLE Paris and it was not an exaggeration at all. French was spoken by aristocrats , intellectuals , artists and even common people. Of course the movie is got a lot of comic moments , we are Romanians N'EST CE PAS ? Do not forget also that haughty people they despised cinema , they preferred theater . I know they we're right but , let's get over it . Cinema was incredible cheap , even in those days , it was a sort of entertainment for low social classes , for the mob . But of course in time people they changed up minds , it is to admire the passion the people involved in this project they sacrifice to see their dream come true . Also it is showing us how VOLATILE and transient the films are ......they burn so easily .I enjoyed watching this movie , and is a nice feeling to know that they are still people who cares about CINEMA .
È pericoloso sporgersi, Asphalt Tango, Filantropica... The ingredient are the same: lots of humor on a tragic background. 'Restul e tacere' has the same Caranfil style, and more... Without a doubt, his best work. It's a story about the making of the first Romanian movie in 1911, the age when Bucharest was still 'little Paris', and the national identity feelings were probably at the highest level of all times. Although as a Romanian i felt really close to this movie, i must say there is no over - nationalist propaganda, just a simple decent story with a little bit of history as background, telling us how talent met with business to do the "War of independence" film. The humor is great, the story is a must know, the acting is extraordinary, especially the two main characters (Leon Negrea played by Ovidiu Niculescu and Grigore Ursache played by Marius Florea Vizante), the music is right on cue, the 'little Paris' atmosphere is greatly recreated and the rest is silence...