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Product Description
Conceived and scripted by Palme d Or winner Cristian Mungiu (4 months, 3 weeks & 2 days), Tales From The Golden Age is a funny, poignant and surreal portrait of 1980 s Romania. Shot with tremendous style and spirit, Tales From The Golden Age brilliantly re-captures the mood of an era where undertones of fear, corruption and imprisonment where never far away and where the humour of ordinary citizens played a vital role in facing up to the idiotic logic of the dictatorship. To warm and often hilarious effect, Mungiu combines several urban legends to portray a time during which food was more important than money, freedom more important than love and survival more important than principles. As he does so, he subtly and comically unseats the propagandist myth that Ceausescu s Romania was the golden age of communism.
Product Description
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: Romanian ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), English ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Anamorphic Widescreen, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: Conceived and scripted by Palme d'Or winner Cristian Mungiu (4 months, 3 weeks & 2 days), Tales From The Golden Age is a funny, poignant and surreal portrait of 1980's Romania. Shot with tremendous style and spirit, Tales From The Golden Age brilliantly re-captures the mood of an era where undertones of fear, corruption and imprisonment where never far away and where the humour of ordinary citizens played a vital role in facing up to the idiotic logic of the dictatorship. To warm and often hilarious effect, Mungiu combines several urban legends to portray a time during which food was more important than money, freedom more important than love and survival more important than principles. As he does so, he subtly and comically unseats the propagandist myth that Ceausescu's Romania was the "golden age" of communism. ...Tales from the Golden Age ( Amintiri din epoca de aur ) ( Contes de l'âge d'or )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Anyone who wants to learn a little bit more about Romanian history should watch this. Such a funny interpretation of the times... yet ultimately ridiculous for the truth it holds. As I know much about what it was like to live during these times, it is a little hard for me to tell whether those who know nothing about Romania will enjoy it just as much, but for comedy values, it's a great film. Must see for anyone who likes unusual films.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I watched this film for the first time in the Corner House cinema in Manchester. I didn't know what to expect and there were only three of us present. It consists of 5 or 6 short tales (or myths) of events that occurred during the communist period in Romania. For me, having a Romanian partner, it helped me to appreciate just how difficult life was at that time, and also gave me an insight into traditions and ways of life of the Romanian people, with some additional ironic humour slotted in too. In general, I like Romanian films. You don't get the predictable Hollywood formats in a Romanian film. You get the nitty gritty of 'how life is/was', with some irony or black humour thrown in. Like others may grow a fondness for japanese films so have I for Romanian. Along with this I would recommend also California Dreaming, 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, The Death of Mr Lazarescu, and Boogie. It may not be your cup of tea, but why watch the same old predictable action/chick flick movies anyway? Broaden your mind!
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Following on from the remarkable and shocking 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days, Cristian Mungiu uses here the format of the compendium movie to present other facets of life in the so-called "Golden Age" of Romania under the regime of Communist leader Ceausescu, where the reality for people on the ground was very different from the image being projected by Party officials. Tales from the Golden Age then presents five stories from the Ceausescu and immediate post-Ceausescu era, each of them standalone, all scripted by Mungiu but only one directed by him, each of them told in the form of "urban legends", since inevitably, if there was any truth to the stories at all, their failure to present the great Romanian Communist programme in any kind of a favourable light would certainly have seen their suppression from the press.
That makes the stories sound relentlessly grim, showing a oppressed populace living in fear of a corrupt and paranoid regime, but the approach in Tales from the Golden Age is in marked contrast to such bleak depictions in The Death Of Mr Lazarescu or indeed Mungui's own 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days, presenting instead a more absurdly surreal view of living under a dictatorship intent on controlling every aspect of how people live and how their regime is represented in the more sedate and humorous style of 12:08 East Of Bucharest or California Dreamin'. Breaking this down into five separate short films of varying length, the impact achieved by the other longer and more serious depictions of life in Ceausescu's Romania is inevitably considerably diminished, but collectively they still present a fine sense of the issues faced by the Romanian people simply trying to live during this period. The shortages of food and even water and the rationing of basic essentials when balanced against the need to project an image of solidarity drive the people in these short films to extraordinary lengths to simply get by, and they inevitably sometimes commit stupid mistakes in the process or just stop caring. If the true menace that underlies and dictates their lifestyles is lessened by these blackly humorous urban legends, it nonetheless still feels like a more rounded and perhaps just as accurate portrayal of life as it was lived by most ordinary people in Romania during this time.
The film looks almost flawless on the UK DVD from Trinity, the image crisp, clear and colourful, the audio available in stereo and surround mixes, in Romanian with optional English subtitles. The extra features consist of a Trailer and another complete 18-minute episode cut from the film - The Legend of the Zealous Activist, dealing with an attempt by the Party to improve literacy in one small village. The quality here is of the same standard as the feature.
That makes the stories sound relentlessly grim, showing a oppressed populace living in fear of a corrupt and paranoid regime, but the approach in Tales from the Golden Age is in marked contrast to such bleak depictions in The Death Of Mr Lazarescu or indeed Mungui's own 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days, presenting instead a more absurdly surreal view of living under a dictatorship intent on controlling every aspect of how people live and how their regime is represented in the more sedate and humorous style of 12:08 East Of Bucharest or California Dreamin'. Breaking this down into five separate short films of varying length, the impact achieved by the other longer and more serious depictions of life in Ceausescu's Romania is inevitably considerably diminished, but collectively they still present a fine sense of the issues faced by the Romanian people simply trying to live during this period. The shortages of food and even water and the rationing of basic essentials when balanced against the need to project an image of solidarity drive the people in these short films to extraordinary lengths to simply get by, and they inevitably sometimes commit stupid mistakes in the process or just stop caring. If the true menace that underlies and dictates their lifestyles is lessened by these blackly humorous urban legends, it nonetheless still feels like a more rounded and perhaps just as accurate portrayal of life as it was lived by most ordinary people in Romania during this time.
The film looks almost flawless on the UK DVD from Trinity, the image crisp, clear and colourful, the audio available in stereo and surround mixes, in Romanian with optional English subtitles. The extra features consist of a Trailer and another complete 18-minute episode cut from the film - The Legend of the Zealous Activist, dealing with an attempt by the Party to improve literacy in one small village. The quality here is of the same standard as the feature.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Great way to understand what life was like in the Eastern Bloc
This film is really 6 short stories about some "urban myths" from communist Romania. The film focuses on what life was like for different people in different situations, during the... Read more
Published 4 months ago by C. M. Cotton
You do very good job: congratulation !
I am very happy and contend with this DVD - prouve of Romanian history. I received the item very quickly, in very good condition. 5 stars and many thanks to seller !
Published 12 months ago by Lumi
It was genuinely funny at times
Tales From The Golden Age [DVD] [2009] Quote `a funny, poignant and surreal portrait of 1980 s Romania'. Watched this last night. It was genuinely funny at times.
Published 17 months ago by Shaun
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