Speaking Tongues !

 oh, What a day ! What a Lovely day :)

who ever expected (and Btw needed. another RS record?)

and it seems it's not only here, but it;s great./ I love the songs that 

TBC...Side Effects ;)

Maiorul si moartea / The Major and Death (1967)

Maiorul si moartea (The Major and Death, 1967) is a forgotten gem, and a one of a kind / one-off UFO Romanian thiller written by the great Ion Baiesu (Balanta/The Oak), based on his eponymous 1965 short story. It was made later on into a radio play with Enil Hossu as the major.

                                       

Directed by the Documentarian Alexandru Boiangiu in his feature film debut, it's a Black and white black and bleak comedy, film noir -policier, shot by maestro DOP Nicu Stan (Rascoala, Diminetile unui baiat cuminte -see references below, Toate Pinzele sus !). The film made a BO of  1.352.078 in Romanian cinemas in 1967.

 It is also Gheorghe Dinica's 1st major leading part. (as the major, sic!) Great part too. 

The other jewel of the cast is veteran theatre actor Ion Stanescu as retired safe cracker Solomonica, his only part on the big screen except a bit in O noapte furtunoasa (1943). 

Supporting: Vasilica Tastaman, Marin Moraru, Mircea Crisan, Jean Constantin, Stefan Mihailescu-Braila (artist emerit;), Peter Paulhoffer, Constantin Rautchi, Ion Anghel, Florin Scarlatescu, Draga Olteanu (before she was Matei ;) and a very young Carmen Galin in her second film part after Diminetile unui baiat cuminte (see last paragraph).

Atmospheric music by Mircea Istrate (Strainul, Haiducii series), played by the Symphonic Cinema Orchestra (Orchestra simfonica a cinematografie- oh, what dayz, when musicians were employed just to score Romanian films...) and conducted by Silviu Panțiru and a cool and absolutely weird song, sung onscreen by Marina Voica, Criminal Tango, by P. Trombetta (actually Kriminal Tango by Piero Trombetta,  originally released in 1959 and the title song of a German film of 1960). Another song sang by Voica, is an uncanyAve Maria Lola in bossanova rhythm (min. 66 in the film, just before Crimanl Tango -a request ;). Maria Voica, a superstar of Romanian Pop music of the Communist age, might be the only one left alive from this film. She is 89 now.

Another gem are the opening credits, Saul Bass  60's  funky style. Very cool, have no idea who did them, it's not credited (sic).

They include a caption of the Militia consultant (MAI/Ministerul Afecerilor Interne) of the film, as all films of the time needed one. This one is a Lt. Col. (Lieutenat Colonel) called Alexandru Manuși, meaning Gloves !

The film starts surreally with a pre-credits scene in which an Insurance salesman trying to sell a Life policy to the Major. I won't spoil more about the plot, suffice to say it deals with a hidden treasure, a murder and surreal threats signed Death !

There's a scene where Major Tache plays Checkers with ¬Death¬, it can be interpreted as a Pun to Bergman's chess with death in The Seventh Seal. Or not, one can only fabulise ;)

I's say it's sort of Romanian Ladykillers maybe ? Style-wise and humour. It's a bit of a satire of the system too. Scenes in achurch, at a Religious procession, not likely to be seen in the  Regime directory. 

Great poster above ! Love also this Czech poster with a nod to Vertigo, saying Major & DEATH / Major A Smrt !

Napinave meaning suspensful !!

It seems M & M travelled a bit in the Socialist haven cinema distribution .)

Deutsche version:

The film can be seen in its entirety in multiple youtube versions, mostly taken from a TVR2HD broadcast.

 

As a fun note, a 'sopirla' / polticial subversive innunedo, one of the characters (Peter Paulhoffer, a German Romanian actor, nicknamed 'the Romanian Paul Newman', that left for BDR- West Germany-later in the '70's), is reading a newspaper in Gara de Nord/ Bucharest railway station. The paper says: The modern profile of a Director's calification !!! On the left is seen a review of another Romanian film from that year: Diminetile unui baiat cuminte/The mornings of  a nice boy, by Andrei Blaier, a sort of New Wave manifesto, not a very socialist film as intended to be. The film can be found on youtube from Cinepub.ro here. I am not sure the newspaper existed or if it waas made up for the film as an inside joke.

A very unusual film that is worth rediscovering.

all in all for quirkuiness and singularity:

3 1/2 / 7 out of 10 !

Captain Volkonogov Escaped (2021)

Captain Volkonogov Escaped, and so did this film. 

Premiered at Venice film Festival, in Competition and was awared in many International Film fests, including Socchi, but neve released in its own country, Russia. 

see it and you'll get why !!!

The film is written and directed by Natalya Merkulova and Alexey Chupov. 

Volkonovov is played brilliantly by Yura Borisov who was nominated for a supporting actor Oscar in Sean Baker's  Anora  and was the lead in Kirill Serebrennikov’s Cannes entry “Petrov’s Flu.” He is an NKVD captain in Stalin's USSR of 1938, when the Great Purge emerged. Timofey Tribuntsev is also great as his pursuer and former boss, major Golovnya. 

The title is soehow ironic, don't expect a traditional escape. The film has surreal qualities, non-linear narrative, great colors, widescreeen cinematography (2.35.1),  great production design (shot in St. Petersburg), and black humor galore. It's a sort of thriller, dark comedy, historical drama, fable, and it shows a side of Russia's history at its most darkest (that is, until Today :( Ok, not only that but all Totalitarian Poli cde Ste.

The musical theme, recurrent and also sometimes ironical, is the legendary Soviet song  Polyushko-pole (Song of the Pains), see the interpretation by the avant-garde St. Petersburg band  Shortparis below: 

4 out of 5 / 8 out of 10 !!! 

-a bit too long and confusing, or switches hard to follow...

LMA Mel Brooks @100 !!!

Mel Brooks, Mel the man, aka Mel Funn aka Comicus is 100 years today.

Just saw him recently in the HBO documentary Mel Brooks: The 99th Years old Man. Which was done when he was 99. .) By Judd Apatow. 

Mel is one of the few EGOTs, an acronym for the few who won the big Four: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony

Now, Mel is still working, he's releasing Spaceballs 2 soon...it's called Spaceballs: The New One, ;)

and it shall be released after 40 years after the original, in 2027 !

May the Schwarz be with you, Mel  !!! 

As a tribute we just saw (re-saw) his 1976's Silent Movie, the first Mel Brooks film I ever saw, in cinemas, weirdly called Comedie Mută 1977, as it played in Romania in 1977 !!!