First of all, I wanna start with a personal remark. I never thought I'd see Andi Vasluianu, whom I consider the best of this generation of young Romanian actors, cast as a "manelar".
But he makes it work. Not fully, I could still sense some moments where he would be cerebral and not "look" like a manelar; again, it works, if you look at the big picture. The script is rather linear - Robert pays a visit to a "local" musical producer, Dan Bursuc (cast as himself), to fulfill his son's dreams of becoming a singing sensation. Nothing out of the ordinary happens, you tend to anticipate what's to follow, but the scenes are put together in a good enough manner that you don't mind. It's still a short film...
What's to be lauded is that without trying to make it a universal or moral story, you still get a sense of how the world portrayed works. People, regardless of wealth or social status, have dreams and they are beautiful trying to fulfill them. And suffer when they fail... The one twist in the story can be found after the perceived "grand" moment. On the bus ride home, trying to cheer up his son, Petre pays local musicians to sing a tune. The one his kid likes. What happens is that Robert, the boy, is up to the moment. He sings along to them and other people start giving him money (think street musicians with a kid...).
It's not what they had hoped for, but isn't that the way life goes?
Călin Rădulescu @ Shorts Up Romania, June 2010
But he makes it work. Not fully, I could still sense some moments where he would be cerebral and not "look" like a manelar; again, it works, if you look at the big picture. The script is rather linear - Robert pays a visit to a "local" musical producer, Dan Bursuc (cast as himself), to fulfill his son's dreams of becoming a singing sensation. Nothing out of the ordinary happens, you tend to anticipate what's to follow, but the scenes are put together in a good enough manner that you don't mind. It's still a short film...
What's to be lauded is that without trying to make it a universal or moral story, you still get a sense of how the world portrayed works. People, regardless of wealth or social status, have dreams and they are beautiful trying to fulfill them. And suffer when they fail... The one twist in the story can be found after the perceived "grand" moment. On the bus ride home, trying to cheer up his son, Petre pays local musicians to sing a tune. The one his kid likes. What happens is that Robert, the boy, is up to the moment. He sings along to them and other people start giving him money (think street musicians with a kid...).
It's not what they had hoped for, but isn't that the way life goes?
Călin Rădulescu @ Shorts Up Romania, June 2010
