Razvan Vasilescu Movies

The pull between Eastern Europe and the West is symbolized in a story of love and difficult choices brought to the screen by filmmaker Didi Danquart. Nicu (Razvan Vasilescu) is a man well into middle age who runs a successful print shop in Bucharest. Brindusa (Alexandra Maria Lara) is a beautiful younger woman who works at the shop with Nicu -- she's his receptionist and does translating for him when necessary, but their working relationship is sometimes complicated by the fact they used to be lovers. Stefan (Felix Klare) is a printing engineers who has come from Germany to install a new printing press at Nicu's shop. While working with Stefan, Brindusa finds herself becoming attracted to the handsome German, and Stefan is deeply infatuated with her. Nicu, however, finds anger and jealousy growing inside himself as he sees sparks fly between them, and when he learns that Stefan has asked Brindusa to marry him and leave Romania for Germany, he begins to lose control of his emotions. Offset was screened as part of the 2006 Rome Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Charles Band has been making horror movies in Rumania for several years, so it should come as no surprise to find his local collaborators, associate producer Vlad Paunescu and costume designer Oana Paunescu, among the crew of this ambitious historical epic from The Kushner-Locke Company and director Joe Chappelle (Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers). It's an impressive attempt at rehabilitating the image of Vlad Tepes (Rudolf Martin), the famous Transylvanian prince who inspired Bram Stoker as the model for his vampiric count in the novel Dracula. That's part of the problem with Chappelle's film, because Martin plays Vlad as a sultry, pouting romantic figure in the Frank Langella mode rather than as a man who might have been capable of such astonishing savagery and physical strength on a battlefield. He pouts for money from the King of Hungary (Roger Daltrey being out-pouted for once), romances Jane March, speaks in a petulant growl, and generally looks like he'd be more at home on the dancefloor of a chic discotheque than on a corpse-strewn battlefield. Only the unavoidable feeling that he might be a vampire (he isn't) makes him seem even remotely threatening or dangerous. The rest of the film is better, with authentic-looking locations, some surprising gore, and nicely-handled battle scenes. Peter Weller comes off the best among the cast, playing the creepy Father Stefan with a suitable gravity and authority. It is very difficult to take the historical Dracula away from the vampire legends after over a century of Stoker-inspired over 150 films, but Chappelle and his cast make a game effort, and if they don't exactly succeed in removing the shadow of the vampire from their heroic prince, they have at least produced a rousing entertainment which is far better than anyone had a right to expect. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

In this French-Romanian thriller, a rookie prosecutor teams up with a female topographer to investigate the mysterious death of a coal miner. Upon his first look at the mine, prosecutor Costa feels appalled by the terrible, unsafe conditions there. He makes a full report to the mine administrators but they, fully aware that their mine is a death trap, and caring only for profit, are disinterested. The miners, desperately needing their jobs, would rather keep things quiet too. Meanwhile Costas and Alina, the topographer become better acquainted until news of a newly discovered corpse, in a supposedly closed section of the mine reaches them. More bodies then turn up. Costas finds a key clue in some early mine footage and with only that, manages to bring the killer to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This spritely Romanian drama centers around the life of a 17-year-old boy living in a culturally mixed town beside the Danube in the latter 19th century. The town is called Braila; it is filled with an interesting mixture of Greeks, Turks, and Romanians; they have lived together for years. Young Dragomir, the film's protagonist, is a vain fellow who for years has observed his free-spirited mother and sister as they played in large orgies. His father and older brother were never there to witness the shenanigans. When the father did return, he would often beat his wife and daughter. After one such beating, his mother lost an eye. For revenge, Drogomire and his sister Kyra hire a hitman to kill their father and older brother. Only the brother gets murdered. Fearing for their lives, the little family leaves town. They are soon separated. Kyra is sold into prostitution and Dragomir finds himself drawn to Codin, a dashing, charismatic fellow who is also a serial killer. The two young men get involved although it is not clear whether they were sexually linked. They consider themselves "blood brothers." ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Lucian Pintilie wrote this dramatic tale of a woman who travels through Romania on a journey to bury her father's ashes, while the countryside lapses into chaos during the final days of the Ceausescu regime. ~ Nicole Gagne, Rovi

A twenty-something willing to walk the margins of the law for the right price finds that he's on a higher tightrope than he imagined in this compelling low-budget drama from Romania. Ovidiu (Alexandru Papadopol) is a young man with an entrepreneurial bent who is trying to launch a business selling snack food while still living in his parent's flat in Constanta. Needing cash to get his business off the ground, Ovidiu is more than willing to listen when he's approached by a local crime boss. It seems the mobster has a package that he needs delivered to Bucharest, and he's willing to pay Ovidiu a healthy wad of cash to do the job. Ovidiu isn't sure what's in the package (and is smart enough not to ask), but he figures it's an easy way to make some fast money, so he packs up his van and hits the road, with his girlfriend (Ioana Flora) and another pal (Dragos Bucur) tagging along for company. Assuming they're carrying some sort of contraband, Ovidiu and his friends have to steer clear of police cars and check points along the way, but before long the law is the least of Ovidiu's worries when he discovers that a red car is following them -- and the four men inside are determined not to be shaken. Marfa Si Banii was enthusiastically received in its screening at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi