Game, set and match for Tudor Giurgiu, Cristian Pascariu and Tudor D. Popescu, who co-direct Nasty, a pleasingly hagiographic portrait of Romanian tennis icon Ilie Năstase. What fun tennis must have been in the 1970s, as it was on the turn from a knockabout sport into the sharp-footed profession it is today. Năstase and his contemporaries brought finesse and genius to the game, but tennis hadn’t yet been fully corrupted by corporate greed and mechanical elite athleticism. These players were hardworking and hard-partying in equal measure, and Năstase was a key ringleader for the frivolity, dating models, and canoodling on the mattresses at Studio 54.
He was also the sport’s chief antagonist a generation before John McEnroe took the mantle. Arguing with his fellow players and with the umpires. But he never questioned them when their calls were right, he insists, in one of the rare modern interview clips with Năstase himself.
He was also the sport’s chief antagonist a generation before John McEnroe took the mantle. Arguing with his fellow players and with the umpires. But he never questioned them when their calls were right, he insists, in one of the rare modern interview clips with Năstase himself.
- 5/24/2024
- by Joe Utichi
- Deadline Film + TV
Fifty years on, a documentary revisits the Romanian player’s stroppy ascent to international stardom
“We’d never seen a player like this,” says one contributor. “When Ilie was on the court, something was always happening,” says another. They are talking in a new documentary about Ilie Năstase, the original bad boy of tennis in the early 70s, which is screening at the Cannes film festival on Friday.
The film’s title is Nasty, the nickname that quickly attached itself to Năstase, whose on-court antics, petulant complaints and confrontations with umpires were barely thinkable in what had previously been a staid and well-behaved sport dominated by amateurism. The “open” era, in which grand slam tournaments started to offer prize money and allow professional players to compete alongside amateurs, had only started a few years earlier in 1968, and Năstase became one of the first high-profile beneficiaries.
“We’d never seen a player like this,” says one contributor. “When Ilie was on the court, something was always happening,” says another. They are talking in a new documentary about Ilie Năstase, the original bad boy of tennis in the early 70s, which is screening at the Cannes film festival on Friday.
The film’s title is Nasty, the nickname that quickly attached itself to Năstase, whose on-court antics, petulant complaints and confrontations with umpires were barely thinkable in what had previously been a staid and well-behaved sport dominated by amateurism. The “open” era, in which grand slam tournaments started to offer prize money and allow professional players to compete alongside amateurs, had only started a few years earlier in 1968, and Năstase became one of the first high-profile beneficiaries.
- 5/24/2024
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
There’s a scene early in the documentary “Nasty,” a rollicking portrait of the ’70s Romanian tennis bad boy Ilie Năstase, where the Grand Slam champion’s mentor and longtime doubles partner Ion Țiriac recalls teaching Năstase how to ski. The young prodigy was a fast study — perhaps too fast.
“He skied down perfectly,” says Țiriac, “except he ran into the fence because I hadn’t taught him to stop.”
You’d be hard-pressed to find a better metaphor for the free-wheeling, fast-living Năstase, a “wild child,” “rock star” and “insolent, elegant, angry, whimsical bon vivant” who makes a fitting subject for the documentary, which was directed by Tudor Giurgiu, Cristian Pascariu and Tudor D. Popescu. A co-production between HBO Documentaries Europe and Romania’s Libra Films, the film has a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival on May 23 and will drop across Europe on Max the following day.
“He skied down perfectly,” says Țiriac, “except he ran into the fence because I hadn’t taught him to stop.”
You’d be hard-pressed to find a better metaphor for the free-wheeling, fast-living Năstase, a “wild child,” “rock star” and “insolent, elegant, angry, whimsical bon vivant” who makes a fitting subject for the documentary, which was directed by Tudor Giurgiu, Cristian Pascariu and Tudor D. Popescu. A co-production between HBO Documentaries Europe and Romania’s Libra Films, the film has a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival on May 23 and will drop across Europe on Max the following day.
- 5/19/2024
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Dekanalog has picked up North American rights to the Sarajevo competition title Men of Deeds, the latest feature from Romanian filmmaker Paul Negoescu.
Men of Deeds played Making Waves, NYC’s annual festival dedicated to showcasing contemporary Romanian contemporary cinema, on April 2nd, with Negoescu and his Director of Photography Ana Drăghici in attendance. Dekanalog will release the film later in the year.
The film is up for 10 Romanian Academy Awards this year, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Screenplay. The story follows Ilie, a village policeman who enjoys an easy life. His passivity during a series of violent events soon turns him into an accomplice to murder. Tension accumulates in the village, forcing Ilie to make a final decision.
The official film synopsis reads: A middle-aged police chief goes on with his job and modest life in a small town, dreaming of having an orchard, managing regular...
Men of Deeds played Making Waves, NYC’s annual festival dedicated to showcasing contemporary Romanian contemporary cinema, on April 2nd, with Negoescu and his Director of Photography Ana Drăghici in attendance. Dekanalog will release the film later in the year.
The film is up for 10 Romanian Academy Awards this year, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Screenplay. The story follows Ilie, a village policeman who enjoys an easy life. His passivity during a series of violent events soon turns him into an accomplice to murder. Tension accumulates in the village, forcing Ilie to make a final decision.
The official film synopsis reads: A middle-aged police chief goes on with his job and modest life in a small town, dreaming of having an orchard, managing regular...
- 4/4/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Having failed to cut it in the city, mild-mannered Romanian cop Ilie takes a lower-pressure job as a police chief in a rural village near the Moldovan border. Expecting a quieter, easier life of mostly benign duties, he instead encounters even more violence and moral rot than he did before. That he’s surprised suggests Ilie (played by Iulian Postelnicu with a permanent woebegone grimace) hasn’t spent much time watching his own country’s cinema. An exceedingly mordant comedy that gradually bleeds out to tragedy, Paul Negoescu’s “Men of Deeds” is another Romanian exercise in finding personal and institutional corruption under every upturned stone, behind every unlocked small-town door, in every heavily conditional handshake. Audiences won’t be nearly as startled, but it’s bleakly compelling all the same.
Back in 2016, Negoescu scored a major homegrown hit in Romania with his jaunty, shambolic crowdpleaser “Two Lottery Tickets,” a...
Back in 2016, Negoescu scored a major homegrown hit in Romania with his jaunty, shambolic crowdpleaser “Two Lottery Tickets,” a...
- 8/16/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Paul Negoescu’s fourth feature, “Men of Deeds,” which world premieres in competition Sunday at the Sarajevo Film Festival, is at first glance a departure from the Romanian director’s previous work. Set in the rural region of Bucovina, it’s a world removed from the swanky bars and bistros of his last film, the Bucharest-set “The Story of a Summer Lover.”
The film follows llie (Iulian Postelnicu), a small-town police chief who hopes to settle into a modest, comfortable life. A man of low expectations and dubious morals, he sets his sights on a small plot of land that’s up for sale — an orchard in the countryside where he imagines he can make a fresh start.
Nothing, however, goes according to plan. Before long Ilie is being thwarted by bad choices and haunted by past misdeeds, leading to an inevitable reckoning after a series of violent events compels...
The film follows llie (Iulian Postelnicu), a small-town police chief who hopes to settle into a modest, comfortable life. A man of low expectations and dubious morals, he sets his sights on a small plot of land that’s up for sale — an orchard in the countryside where he imagines he can make a fresh start.
Nothing, however, goes according to plan. Before long Ilie is being thwarted by bad choices and haunted by past misdeeds, leading to an inevitable reckoning after a series of violent events compels...
- 8/13/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.