Horatiu Malaele Movies
- 2008
Horatiu Malaele helmed this Romanian-language nuptial comedy. A period film set in March 1953, at the exact moment of Josef Stalin's death, it tells of a couple, Fira (Luminita Gheorgiu) and Iancu (Alexandru Potoceanu) determinedly attempting to celebrate their wedding festivities despite repeated interruptions thanks to the dictator's passing. The title translates, literally, as Silent Wedding. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luminita Gheorghiu
- 2003
Romanian filmmaker Peter Calin Netzer directs the bleak realist drama Maria, based on the true story of working-class Romanian woman Maria Tiranesi struggling to make the transition to a market economy. Played by theatrical stage actress Diana Dumbrava, Maria is a pregnant mother of six with an abusive alcoholic husband (Serban Ionescu). After he gets arrested and skips town, she is left alone with nowhere to go. Refusing an offer of a lot of money for her newborn child, Maria eventually turns to prostitution. After she tells her story to a local TV channel, the mayor gives her a job and an apartment as part of a publicity stunt. Maria won two Bronze Leopard awards at the 2003 Locarno International Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diana Dumbrava, Horatiu Malaele, (more)
- 2002
Released from prison only to fall back once again into a bleak haze of murderous rage, country butcher Dumitru's (Dan Condurache) life has become a whirling cesspool of vodka, gambling, and killing. Following the rape of a woman whom he won in a poker game, Dumitru returns home to discover his wife has become pregnant by another man, setting off the trigger for an unending and inescapable spree of debauchery and death. Attempting to start his life anew as a butcher in another town, Dumitru seems doomed to repeat his past, though, just as all hope seems lost, it appears that a higher power has other things in store for the murderer who has lost his will to live. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dan Condurache, Ana Ciontea, (more)
- 1993
They surely thought it was a good idea. Probably a few villagers actually think that the birthday party they are throwing for one of their most curmudgeonly old people is really just a celebration of his long life. However, Chivu is convinced that it is all just a ploy to lure him from his house so that the town can demolish it to make way for a high-rise apartment building. Oh sure, maybe they will give him a small apartment in the new building. Big deal: he's not buying it, any of it. The trouble all began when he arranged a marriage for his oldest boy, who is mentally slow, the cursed woman ran off with his youngest one instead. It really caused him to lose face. Maybe that is why the town council thinks he is a likely victim for their redevelopment scheme. No matter what people think, he's not leaving his house, and that's that. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gheorghe Dinica, Maia Morgenstern, (more)
- 1990
In this odd, silly and allegorical fairy-tale, peaceful and warlike knights vie for the hand of a beautiful princess, while a discussion of disco goes on around them. She favors a peaceful knight, while her father and his advisors like the ones carrying around a lot of weapons. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Rebengiuc, Mircea Diaconu, (more)
