Coca Bloos
- 2007
At some indeterminate point in a dystopian near-future, Bogdanski Dolina - a grubby, unkempt Central European hamlet - buckles beneath the weight of misery. Armed barbarians guard the wire fences that ensconce the town, while the residents must contend with abusive draconian laws. The town governance is abetted, in its attempts to maintain order, by a TB camp - home to not only tuberculosis victims but also a host of societal rejects. But lives are about to grow a thousand times more unbearable with the arrival of a bizarre, totalitarian band of clerical oppressors, known as 'The Vicarage,' comprised almost entirely of onetime guards from the village, who sport cassocks and phony beards attached with cords. Thus begins Hungarian director Zoltan Kamondi's quaternary feature, the sociopolitical allegory Dolina. Kamondi sets up a half dozen crisscrossing subplots that unfurl in and around the village. In one, resident Colentina Dunka (Piroska Molnar), the lesbian proprietress of a combination brothel, hair-salon and bath house, schemes to drive one of her employees-cum-romantic pursuits away from her husband; she also plans and plots to orchestrate the return of her son, Petrus (Milan Vajda) from a lengthy exile. At about the same time, a new arrival turns up in town, Gabriel Ventuza (Adriano Giannini) and attempts to exhume the corpse his father, but encounters only frustration and hardship. Meanwhile, a dispute erupts between two Vicarage members, a small band of locals plots to spring an unjustly interred member of the TB facility from that hellhole, and reunite him with his Armenian relatives, and least two members of the community struggle with irreciprocal affections. And uniting everything is fear of the massive, oppressive impact that the new governing body will make on the tiny hamlet. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adriano Giannini, Piroska Molnar, (more)
Gil-Scott Heron once wrote "the revolution will not be televised," but one Romanian newsman attempts to put his nation's revolution on the air after the fact in this satiric comedy from writer and director Corneliu Porumboiu. It's the sixteenth anniversary of the revolt that removed Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu from power in Romania, and Jderescu (Ion Sapdaru) is the host of a televised public affairs show who wants to do a special program on the revolution. Jderescu's idea is to bring on a handful of ordinary citizens to discuss their role in Ceausescu's overthrow and how their lives have changed since Communist rule was swept from Romania. However, Jderescu can only round up two guests for his broadcast -- elderly Piscoci (Mircea Andreescu), who's more interested in playing Santa Claus for the neighborhood kids than talking politics, and Manescu (Teo Corban), a schoolteacher nursing a brutal hangover. As Jderescu tries to lead a serious discussion of how Romania has changed since Ceausescu was driven from power, the conversation wanders off on a tangent about where the revolution actually took place, and the waters become even more muddied when Jderescu opens up the phone lines for questions from viewers, most of whom have their own distinct (and strongly conflicting) memories of the Revolution . . . and one of which has a bone to pick with Manescu over some drunken insults he hurled the night before. A Fost Sau n-a Fost? (aka 12:08 East of Bucharest) received its North American premier at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mircea Andreescu, Teo Corban, (more)
- 2003
Romanian filmmaker Lucian Pintilie directs the low-key drama Niki and Flo. An aging military officer Niki Ardelean (Victor Rebengiuc) lives in Bucharest with his ill wife, Poucha (Coca Bloos). His son, Mihai (Marius Galea) was just killed in an accident, and his daughter, Angela (Dorina Chiriac), is pregnant. She has recently been married to Eugen Tufaru (Serban Pavlu), the son of Niki's best friend Florian (Razvan Vasilescu). Niki disagrees with Flo on many counts, especially when Angela and Eugen plan to move to the U.S. His tension increases after the events of 9/11, leading to the conclusion on National Army Day in October. Niki and Flo premiered at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Rebengiuc, Razvan Vasilescu, (more)
- 2002
Directed by Cristia Mungiu), Occident is a bittersweet comedy that focuses on the growing tendency of Eastern European youth to migrate west. When the amicable Luci (Alexandru Papadopol) and his beautiful lover Sorina (Anca Androne) are evicted from their apartment, Sorina decides they must visit her father's grave and ask for a "sign". Seconds later, Luci is hit in the head by a bottle and taken to the hospital by a Frenchman. Despite her love for Luci, Sorina believes a life with security takes precedence over romance, and moves in with the good samaritan. Meanwhile, a jilted bride (Tania Popa) and her mother (Coca Bloos) enlist the help of of a private angency to find a proper husband for her, but the wealthy Italian man they select has more than a couple of undesirable traits. Later, Michaela's (Popa) father, a police captain, finds out that Luci's cousin is dead, prompting him to rememember when the two boys fled from Romania by swimming across the Danube on an inflatable doll. The cousin had made it across, but Luci had been arrested and thrown into prison.
~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alexandru Papadopol, Anca Androne, (more)
- 2001
Between 1965 and 1989, Nicolae Ceausescu was the absolute dictator of Romania, and under his regime some 1,700 people were employed in the business of torturing political dissidents. After Ceausescu's rule came to an end in 1989 (following a coup that led to the dictator's execution), only one man who participated in Ceausescu's crimes against his people, Franz Tander, was willing to come forward and tell the truth about his horrific deeds. This film, based on a novel by Doina Jela, offers a fictionalized version of Tander's efforts to clear his conscience, and the world's unexpectedly blasé reaction to his statements. A journalist (Ioana Macaria) and an academic who is an authority on political torture (Radu Beligan) visit the rural home of Frant Tandara (Gheorghe Dinica), who was a willing participant in the barbarous acts of Romania's Communist leadership and wishes to tell his story for the record. However, as Tandara tries to relate his horrific tales of torture and mayhem, one thing or another keeps stopping him -- from a faulty tape recorder to Tandara's wife (Coca Bloos), who believes such things should be left in the past -- and he discovers that hardly anyone seems especially interested in learning the truth about his nation's awful legacy. However, in time Tandara finds someone is interested in his crimes after all -- his son, who leads a group of over-zealous patriots who want to execute him for his crimes against the people. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gheorghe Dinica, Radu Beligan, (more)
