Italiencele (2004)

• Year: 2004
• Released: 15 Oct 2004
• Country: Romania
• Adwords: N/A
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433679/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/italiencele
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: Romanian
• MPA Rating: N/A
• Genre: Comedy, Drama
• Runtime: 82 min
• Writer: Nap Toader
• Director: Nap Toader
• Cast: Mara Nicolescu, Ana Ularu, Costel Cascaval
• Keywords: sensibility,

6.3/10

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Italiencele Movie Reviews

Another waste of time

Badly written and produced, this is not a movie, it is some sort of a home-made cinema about stupid people…There is no insight, no other idea except depicting the “Romanian reality”, or that part of the Romanian reality that I don’t think would or should interest somebody. While other directors try hard to make a decent film, some of them come with utter trash like this pretending that it’s entertainment or, what is regrettably worse, artistic. It is sad to see, how directors that don’t deserve to get their movies made, actually make it and hard working directors, that really have something to say are left behind, because it is considered that their movies wouldn’t be “interesting enough”. Romanians are used with filth and what is worse is that they seem to like it. They deny movies with and idea, with a strong direction in favor of crappy “home made videos” such as this one.

1/10

Excellent- Old-fashioned storytelling from a country in transition.

Set in today’s rural Romania, a culture that seems to resist change despite the provocations of recent history, ‘The Italian Girls’ tells the tale of 2 young women who decide they will find a better life picking strawberries in Spain.

This is a wonderful social comedy. ‘The Italian Girls’ is a touching film that avoids sentimentality and a political film that avoids extremism or earnestness. The writer/director, Napoleon Helmis has a light touch and a gift for dialogue. The cast create a world that is both real and comic, held together by Mara Nicolescu’s (Jeni) spirited central performance.

I laughed and I cried during the film and when I left the cinema I was moved enough to look it up on IMDb and write a review about it! A new cinema with old values seems to be emerging out of Romania, and Napoleon Helmis is definitely one to watch.

Romanian showdown

October was the month which brought to the lucky Romanian public no less than two (different!) domestic films: the oh-so incredibly bad Orient Express and Italiencele, the latter directed by one Napoleon Helmis. Maybe it’s just me and my own sensibility, but such a name strikes me as very odd. I’ve yet to get to the bottom of this mysterious identity, but this work of his is definitely worth a few words.

I don’t tend to lower my standards for no movie, be it Romanian or else. Actually, I imagine exactly the opposite happens when I watch a home production, because it reflects the image of a society of which I myself am – more or less – part of. Image is a very powerful thing.

But let’s get down to the film.

Spoilers

It would be best described by saying that it starts of like a bomb and reaches the finish line as a snail, even though the thematic is reasonably interesting: the search for a better life and what might happen while taking a shortcut. Quite a few people have left the country after the Revolution in ’89, but I don’t recall any boom as significant as the “working abroad as gatherers” boom. Gathering what, you may well ask. Well, gathering cherries, strawberries, oranges, and anything else you may consider gatherable. I suppose it’s a more productive affair, than many other around here. Of course, the main issue here is still the shortcut. That the two main characters have a rather harsh and unpleasant encounter with the way things sometimes work is fairly predictable from the start. The old saying “It’s not about getting there, it’s about how you get there” proves to be fundamentally wrong in a rather shattering experience.

But! There’s a catch. I don’t know how someone may view the film as an outsider. However, I myself, as an “insider”, found the whole story and experience a bit awkward to sit through. The script was at best mediocre and such a fact holds the film back dramatically. Moreover, acting continues to suffer to the same undetermined disease, but an antidote might be on its way. Helmis, on the other hand, delivered some handy craftwork and imposed – at times – a lively rhythm. He’s someone who we mustn’t turn away from just yet.

“Italiencele” is a nearly worthy film, but not quite. It’s the viewer’s task to decided if he throws it to the garbage can, or not. 6/10