Interview with Dragos Bucur (TakeOne)

In aprilie anul trecut am avut placerea de a-i lua interviu lui Dragos Bucur in Londra. Aici e rezultatul. Scuze ca e in engleza.


“This ignorance of theirs serves me well,” says Dragoş Bucur while he carefully studies the label of the Indian beer we ordered. The ignorance he refers to is the stereotyping of any East-European as being some variant of Russians. “What is beyond, let’s say, Budapest, is Russian,” he goes on. He is telling me this in an Indian restaurant around Aldgate, having just finished some preliminary rehearsal for his new role. It is partly due to this ignorance that Bucur, a Romanian actor, has landed an important role in ITV’s upcoming mini-series about the Titanic. He plays a character based on the real-life figure of Peter Piatkow, also known as Peter the Painter, a mysterious Latvian who lived in London around that time, and who might or might not have been a revolutionary, or anarchist.

When he is telling me this, the cast list had just been released a few hours prior by ITV, and filming is still weeks away; but this is not the first time the type-casting proved useful. He has a short part as a Chechen in Dennis Gansel’s German film IN THE YEAR OF THE DOG, another short role in Francis Ford Coppola’s YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH and recently he was part of the main supporting cast members in Peter Weir’s THE WAY BACK, another film based on a true story, about several convicts escaping from a Siberian Gulag during World War II.

To claim, though, that his landing of these roles is only because he sounds close enough to a Russian would be just another sign of ignorance. Bucur has starred in several highly acclaimed Romanian movies which have garnered prizes on the festival circuit, including the main role in 2009’s “Police, Adjective”, which got director Corneliu Porumboiu the FIRESCI Prize and the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at Cannes. And in 2010 he received the Shooting Stars Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. He has slowly but surely made a name for himself nationally and internationally.

Bucur, however, has a more pragmatic view on things. “I am a pretty lucky guy, you know? If you were to analyze the chances to get into a film like this, without an agent, without contacts, without another big English or American movie on your resume, they are 0.000….”. He received an e-mail from a friend in London telling him about THE WAY BACK, he sent in his CV, and he was cast. “The truth is, I don’t think that if I hadn’t played in BOOGIE, STUFF AND DOUGH, THE PAPER WILL BE BLUE and so forth, anybody would have taken notice of me for this casting, but I don’t think anyone actually saw any of my work.” Who knows if all his talent would have gotten him out of Romania without that e-mail. But as things are now, he is one of the three most prolific Romanian actors who act in big international productions, next to Marcel Iureş (HART’S WAR) and Maia Morgenstern who played The Virgin Mary in Mel Gibson’s THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST.

Romanian cinema has been on the rise since 2000, with titles such as OCCIDENT, THE DEATH OF MR LĂZĂRESCU, THE PAPER WILL BE BLUE being extremely well received by critics world wide, the film 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS even winning the Palm D’or in 2007. The problem is that these art-house titles are best known for their minimalist approach, with slow and long scenes focussed on dialogue, mundane details and little action, which didn’t help with their popularity with the general audience: “not only are they uncommercial, they do anything they can not to be liked by a general audience” Bucur thinks. And while there are a few films made for the box office, “those are awful, nothing to do with quality. Nothing. […] You can’t understand how some good actors can act that bad, or how somebody wrote something like that? Romanian directors and audience have to make peace. They have to find a middle road, you know?”.

“Maybe critics and audience should stop being that harsh. They all are. As soon as a less than good film comes out everybody is happy to comment on how bad it is. As soon as a good festival film comes out everybody rolls their eyes about how there are only festival titles coming out. I don’t know why they are so spiteful. Old directors dismiss young ones, young ones dismiss the old, nowadays young directors dismiss each other. Old actors say the young ones have no talent, the young ones say the old act theatre not movies. Everybody needs to see somebody else suffering.”

Romania does not have a studio system, and films are generally funded by the government, which gives directors creative freedom but also small budgets, which is how they sometimes defend their minimalistic approach. But considering that these films are festival favourites it is uncertain how hard directors try to find that middle road. “There is a trend. I don’t think it is nice me saying this, but I think they try to please festivals.” Considering the lack of commercial viability and the recent recession it is not hard to understand that cinema in Romania, as much as anywhere else in the world, is going through a rough patch; and people such as Bucur are forced to look outside, not just as professional progress, but because there are not many other options. His pragmatism comes again into play. Despite being one of the most talented young actors in Europe, he views himself as a professional actor, not an artist actor, and will not turn down roles because they are too small or not suited for him. This readiness to take up every opportunity and his chameleonic talent will probably take him far.

I expressed optimism at the future of Romanian cinema, that although it might be in a dark patch right now, better days might yet come, he seemed not very convinced. “If things get better I will not hesitate to return, but for the moment I found a way to pay the bills and do what I like. I found this new market. There are few limits now. There is this niche and I can work outside the country. The Romanian market had very few offers these last two years. If I would not have had my international projects I do not know where I would have been. I can live anywhere and film in another country. When I go to the casting, they don’t need to know I don’t live in London. This reminds me. Last time I was in London, I went out with a friend to this Italian place. We were the last customers. I thought maybe they want to close, but my friend said that the waiters would start putting the chairs up, or, maybe they think we are Russian and are afraid not to bother us. And sure enough, as we left the waiter came to us and said “Nazdrovya, Nazdrovya”.”
So yes, it might not be pleasant to be stereotyped, but Dragoş Bucur is ever pragmatic, and makes the most of it. Their ignorance does serve him well. I left him with a short hand-shake in Embankment Station, remembering something he said. When asked once which one is his best role his answer was, “The next one. Always the next one.”

[sursa]

Cambridge Film Festival 2011, Days 5 & 6

With all this moving to London business I didn't have that much time for the festival or the blog. I didn't see anything on Wednesday, so days 5 and 6 will refer to Thursday and Friday.

Day 5:


12:30: Afternoon of a Torturer (Dupa amiaza unui tortionar) This years festival has a section dedicated to the 10th year Anniversary of the Romanian New Wave. This includes five feature films (three by Lucian Pinitilie, selected by the director himself, and two selected by Anamaria Marinca) and one showing of several short films.
This film was made in 2001 by Pintilie, whose work helped the shaping of the New Wave and opened roads for younger directors. The Tarkovsky influenced film moves ahead slowly but shows a gripping tale.

Review I did for the Festival Magazine, "Take One":

Afternoon of a torturer

In one of the earliest films of The Romanian New Wave, director Lucian Pinitilie gives us a glimpse of yet another facet of the communist era and especially its effect on people long after it has fallen.

The film follows a young reporter and an old professor, who had been incarcerated and tortured in the sixties by the communists, as they spend an afternoon at the farm of a bee-keeper, who in his youth had been convicted of parricide and in prison educated to be a torturer of political prisoners, who in the eyes of the government where a far greater problem than mere murderers and rapists.

Years later he wishes to confess his crimes, to cleanse his soul, only to find that not many care about what he has to say. Not his wife, nor his son, not even his victims. So he must contend with a guilty conscience.

The near-plotless film is heavily dialogue driven, most scenes taking place around a table where the three discuss. But expect no Tarantino-style quick and witty lines, as in many other current Romanian films, there is a minimalist approach, with long, still shots following the slow moving, often interrupted, dialogue, intertwining these scenes with a selection of symbolic images of ghosts past.

A film which has laid the basics of the New Wave, it poses the question of what is evil and what is its legacy, throwing black and white into a grey area.

Day 6

13:30: The Paper Will Be Blue (Hirtia va fi albastra): A powerful, even if confusing, film by Radu Muntean with Radu Ipate, Andi Vasluianu (in a brilliant performance) and Dragos Bucur.

This 2006 film by Radu Muntean focuses on the night of between the 22^nd and the 23^rd of December 1989, when in Bucharest the Revolution was in full swing. People were in the streets, the Ceauşescu’s had fled and Communism had basically fallen. Yet a full-out war was still going with several sides shooting at each other, even though nobody knew exactly on whose side they were now.

Costi is a young man in a Militia unit on a patrolling mission through the streets. Seeing civil revolutionaries celebrating freedom and fighting to the defend it, he deserts his unit to go and fight with them. Not knowing what the final results will be, and not wanting to get into trouble, the commander of his unit decides to go looking for him.

What follows is a record of the chaos which has dominated those final moments of the Revolution. There is violence, there are gun battles, yet nobody knows what really is going on, with contradictory orders and contradictions dominating the scene.

Watching the film you will find yourself confused as to what the motivation of some of the characters are, or who exactly is pro- and who is antirevolution, but this is the confusion you share with the characters themselves.

Despite the ambiguity, the things which remain clear are the human emotions, the fear of death, the desire for freedom or a mother’s worry for a son gone missing. These being the elements which deliver a strong and engaging film.

18:15: Tridentfest 2011: For those who don't know, Tridentfest is a sort of festival within the festival showing films made by Arts Picturehouse (the main venue of the festival) employees, who prove to be very talented writers/directors/actors. From 1 minute films which make not much sense but are hilarious, through 5-10 minute more serious attempts and leading to the 30 minute epic "The Purple Fiend" it was greatly enjoyable throughout (and very silly indeed). You can see the films and learn more about the guys on Project Trident.

20:30: Occident + Discussion: Cristian Mungiu's hilarious debut (between this and "Tales from a Golden Age" it is hard to believe that this is the man who made "4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days"), the film which kick-started the Romanian New Wave, opened the road to Cannes and other festivals. Although a comedy, the film doesn't lack a solid backbone, with a Pulp Fiction style triple-parallel story and engaging characters (and Ioan Gyuri-Pascu).

Anamaria Marinca was supposed to be present at the screening and afterwards participate in a discussion with Verena von Stackelberg (a German enthusiast of Romanian Cinema, who helped put the section together) and film-critic Steve Williams. Unfortunately she couldn't be present, so the organizers thought that any Romanian will be better than none, which is why at the start of the film I was invited to participate in the discussion. Apparently I didn't do to bad in a discussion focusing on the cause and past of the Current and its possible future.

“A Romanian comedy?” I heard someone asking in disbelief after the film was over. And truly, the main memories evoked by the words “Romanian New Wave” are usually tedious long shots of aborted babies and people walking. It is no wonder then that it is hard to believe that one of the founding films of the new wave, Cristian Mungiu’s (yes the one who bagged a Palme d’Or with “that abortion film” as critics like to call it) 2001 hit “Occident”, is a hearty comedy. But fret not, if you have come to see people coping with a society crippled by 40 years of Communism, you will not be disappointed, for this is exactly what the films delivers. But in their problems and tragedies humour somehow found its place.

In a “Pulp Fiction” inspired triple narrative, we learn the stories of: 

-two lovers, one of which wishes to leave the Go-forsaken country for a better life in the West;

-a girl being abandoned at the altar, and her mother trying to find her a suitable husband via an agency, from, you’ve guessed it, the West;

-a man coming back to Romania from the West in order to return the belongings of a friend who has passed away there.

It is a delightful film with a surprising craft in combining humour and drama, the latter feeling close to what real life might have to offer. The added bonus of a brilliant cast make this one of the feel-good winners of this Festival. 

The Way Back - 2010

“Şapte bărbaţi reuşesc să scape dintr-un gulag Siberian în mijlocul celui de-al Doilea Război Mondial, iar pentru a ajunge la libertate trebuie să străbată 4000 km de sălbăticiune. Bazat pe o întâmplare reală.”
Atât e nevoie să aud ca să mă cuprindă fiori de groază la cât de oribil trebuie să fie filmul. URĂSC filmele de supravieţuire bazate pe întâmplări reale. Fie că e vorba de un tren scăpat de sub control care trebuie oprit printr-o serie de explozii şi scene de super-acţiune de către duo-ul nepotrivit de muncitori, unul tânar şi nebunatic, celălalt la trei zile de pensionare şi cinic; sau de grupul de pescari care trebuie să înfrunte furtuna secolului, sau familia prinsă pe un vapor răsturnat.
Nu pot să suport aceste filme. Drama e exagerată la fiecare pas, personajele sunt stereotipice, acţiunea e previzibilă; după o serie continuă de hopuri din ce în ce mai dificile care pune la încercare curajul şi încrederea reciprocă a personajelor toţi sunt bine, mai puţin personajul negativ (uneori, alteori a învăţat o lecţie despre umanitate) şi acel singur personaj care nu a avut voinţa de supravieţuire şi se tot văita ca va muri (şi moare). Prietenii se leagă, divorţuri se anulează, copii alienaţi îşi amintesc că îşi iubesc părinţii, buhuhuhu, ce frumos şi dramatic. Împuşcaţi-vă!
De ce atunci am fost să văd “The Way Back”? Care avea toate ingredientele necesare pentru a produce acest gen de fiori. În primul rând trailerul. Deşi producătorii s-au chinuit rău de tot să facă să pară că filmul e clasicul survival-movie, am văzut prin mascarada lor şi am bănuit că acesta are mai multe de oferit.
Apoi regizorul, care nu e nici Michael Bay, nici Roland Emmerich, nici Wolfgang Peterson sau nici un alt zeu al satisfacerii maselor. E Peter Weir, a cărui filme includ “The Truman Show” şi “The Dead Poets Society”. În plus nu a mai scos un film de 6 ani, şi deşi nu îmi place să generalizez (glumesc, îmi place la nebunie, ca şi vouă de altfel, chiar dacă nu vreţi să recunoaşteţi ipocriţilor; stereotyping works dammit!), munca celor care fac filme rare şi puţine e de obicei de calitate superioară (ex: Kubrick, Tarkovsky, Lynch, Daniel-Day Lewis etc).
Şi dreptate am avut. Filmul nu petrece jumătate de oră cu scene calme să îndrăgim personajele, apoi aruncă un eveniment care declanşează o călătorie plină de momente de acţiune şi suspans alterate cu scene de umor şi dramă. Pelicula sare direct în apa rece. Polonezul Janosz (Jim Sturgess) este trădat de soţia sa KGB-ului după ce fusese torturată. Nevinovat, e trimis în Siberia, de unde îşi plănuieşte imediat evadarea. Fără mult tam-tam, într-o noapte furtunoasă scapă cu un veteran american (Ed Harris) un criminal obişnuit (Colin Farrel) şi încă patru prieteni (printre care unul jucat de Dragoş Bucur, pe care admit că nu l-am recunoscut tot filmul).
Drama e subjucată. Filmul nu ia nici unul din drumurile aşteptate, personajele nu înfruntă urşi şi soldaţi inamici; nici între ei nu se ceartă, ne creează comploturi, nu apar secrete ascunse care scutură încrederea. Sunt doar nişte oameni hotărâţi, care trec prin iarnă, munţi, deşert, arşită, foame, sete etc. Nimic nu e supradramatizat, şi asta e frumuseţea sa. Filmul te prinde şi te ţine prin regia excelentă şi actoria subtilă (nota zece pentru faptul că nu e exploatat statutul de star al unilor actori, aceştia fiind oricum de nerecunoscut; Ed Harris e tăcut, Colin Farrel are un rol secundar fără mult timp pe ecran, şi funcţionează perfect, Mark Strong trece aproape neobservat, Saoirse Ronan e minunată iar Jim Sturgess reuşeşte să ducă rolul principal şi cel mai complex).
Nu e de nota zece. E puţin mai lung decât poate am vrea, şi uneori devine puţin plictisitor, dar rar. Un film mare plin de momente micuţe.

Poliţist, Adjectiv

Deşi primul deceniu după revoluţie a însemnat pentru cinematografia română o bruscă decădere, odată cu intrarea în noul mileniu tineri regizori, scenarişti şi actori au apărut la orizont şi au readus peliculele autohtone la nivelul celor străine. Astfel, noul deceniu a însemnat... [continuarea aici]