Opened Wednesday, Oct. 4 (France)
PARIS -- Transylvania, Tony Gatlif's latest excursion into Europe's ethnic byways, was chosen to close May's Festival de Cannes this year, and it is easy to understand why: It's a love story involving rough-diamond protagonists, raucous gypsy music, majestic landscapes and an upbeat ending, deftly blended by one of the unsung heroes of art house cinema.
Gatlif has been here before -- Gadjo Dilo (1997), his biggest commercial success to date, also was shot in Romania -- but with a bigger budget and two up-and-coming actors in the lead roles, his latest movie could mark a breakthrough into mainstream markets.
When the feisty Zingarina (Asia Argento, also featured in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette), travels to Transylvania with her bosom friend Marie (Amira Casar) in tow to rejoin the father of the child she is carrying, she is in for a rude shock. Piano-player Milan (Marco Castoldi), who she thought had been expelled from France, tells her that he had in fact walked out on her, that he does not love her and that he wants nothing more to do with her.
Three months pregnant, Zingarina becomes hysterical, gives Marie the slip and, disguising herself as a gypsy, wanders around the countryside nursing her grief. She links up with Tchingalo (Birol Unel), a petty trader who travels the region buying up gold and silver trinkets for resale in the West. Sure enough, little by little, love blossoms.
It's tough love, of course. Zingarina still is too angry to give herself completely, and Tchangalo is by nature a loner. But by now we're in road-movie mode. As the incidents pile up -- notably, an exorcism for Zingarina, a beating up for Tchangalo by five brothers who believe he swindled their mother -- and the pregnancy approaches its term, they have plenty of time to smooth things over.
Zingarina finally gives birth on a snowbound hillside, Tchangalo's Mercedes having sunk axle-deep into the mud. Local midwives arrive by horse-drawn sleigh to help out, and villagers offer her shelter to rest and succor the child. Gatlif's narrative rather runs out of steam at this point: Zingarina vanishes, Tchangalo searches for her in vain, he inflicts violence on himself, she returns, he finds her, she smiles at him, fade to black and the closing credits. But there have been many pleasures along the way.
The Carpathian mountains form a magnificent backdrop to the story. Celine Bozon's cinematography captures perfectly the fading of autumn's browns and golds into the yellows and grays and, finally, the blinding whites of winter. The frequent mists and the timeless east European structures of Romania's wild north provide a fairy-tale quality to the settings.
With Zingarina speaking French with Marie and English with Tchangalo, not to mention the frequent snatches of Romanian, Romani, Hungarian, Russian and Italian, the movie presents a linguistic melting pot. The dialogue can best be described as functional, but then Gatlif's appeal always has been as much to the heart as to the head.
Music is central to this director's work. The action of Transylvania is punctuated from beginning to end by songs and dancing. Much of the music was composed by Gatlif, in collaboration with Delphine Mantoulet.
The movie is well served by Argento, who does the business as the hot-blooded abandoned mistress, but Unel (star of last year's European movie of the year Head-On), as the outsider about to come in from the cold, ultimately steals the picture from under her nose.
TRANSYLVANIA
Princes Films, Pyramide Prods.
Credits: Screenwriter-director: Tony Gatlif; Producers: Christian Paumier, Doru Mitran; Director of photography: Celine Bozon; Production designer: Brigitte Brassart; Music: Tony Gatlif, Delphine Mantoulet; Costume designer: Rose-Marie Melka; Editor: Monique Dartonne. Cast: Zingarina: Asia Argento; Tchangalo: Birol Unel; Marie: Amira Casar; Luminitsa: Alexandra Beaujard; Milan: Marco Castoldi; Cabaret singer: Beata Palya.
No MPAA rating, running time 103 minutes.
PARIS -- Transylvania, Tony Gatlif's latest excursion into Europe's ethnic byways, was chosen to close May's Festival de Cannes this year, and it is easy to understand why: It's a love story involving rough-diamond protagonists, raucous gypsy music, majestic landscapes and an upbeat ending, deftly blended by one of the unsung heroes of art house cinema.
Gatlif has been here before -- Gadjo Dilo (1997), his biggest commercial success to date, also was shot in Romania -- but with a bigger budget and two up-and-coming actors in the lead roles, his latest movie could mark a breakthrough into mainstream markets.
When the feisty Zingarina (Asia Argento, also featured in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette), travels to Transylvania with her bosom friend Marie (Amira Casar) in tow to rejoin the father of the child she is carrying, she is in for a rude shock. Piano-player Milan (Marco Castoldi), who she thought had been expelled from France, tells her that he had in fact walked out on her, that he does not love her and that he wants nothing more to do with her.
Three months pregnant, Zingarina becomes hysterical, gives Marie the slip and, disguising herself as a gypsy, wanders around the countryside nursing her grief. She links up with Tchingalo (Birol Unel), a petty trader who travels the region buying up gold and silver trinkets for resale in the West. Sure enough, little by little, love blossoms.
It's tough love, of course. Zingarina still is too angry to give herself completely, and Tchangalo is by nature a loner. But by now we're in road-movie mode. As the incidents pile up -- notably, an exorcism for Zingarina, a beating up for Tchangalo by five brothers who believe he swindled their mother -- and the pregnancy approaches its term, they have plenty of time to smooth things over.
Zingarina finally gives birth on a snowbound hillside, Tchangalo's Mercedes having sunk axle-deep into the mud. Local midwives arrive by horse-drawn sleigh to help out, and villagers offer her shelter to rest and succor the child. Gatlif's narrative rather runs out of steam at this point: Zingarina vanishes, Tchangalo searches for her in vain, he inflicts violence on himself, she returns, he finds her, she smiles at him, fade to black and the closing credits. But there have been many pleasures along the way.
The Carpathian mountains form a magnificent backdrop to the story. Celine Bozon's cinematography captures perfectly the fading of autumn's browns and golds into the yellows and grays and, finally, the blinding whites of winter. The frequent mists and the timeless east European structures of Romania's wild north provide a fairy-tale quality to the settings.
With Zingarina speaking French with Marie and English with Tchangalo, not to mention the frequent snatches of Romanian, Romani, Hungarian, Russian and Italian, the movie presents a linguistic melting pot. The dialogue can best be described as functional, but then Gatlif's appeal always has been as much to the heart as to the head.
Music is central to this director's work. The action of Transylvania is punctuated from beginning to end by songs and dancing. Much of the music was composed by Gatlif, in collaboration with Delphine Mantoulet.
The movie is well served by Argento, who does the business as the hot-blooded abandoned mistress, but Unel (star of last year's European movie of the year Head-On), as the outsider about to come in from the cold, ultimately steals the picture from under her nose.
TRANSYLVANIA
Princes Films, Pyramide Prods.
Credits: Screenwriter-director: Tony Gatlif; Producers: Christian Paumier, Doru Mitran; Director of photography: Celine Bozon; Production designer: Brigitte Brassart; Music: Tony Gatlif, Delphine Mantoulet; Costume designer: Rose-Marie Melka; Editor: Monique Dartonne. Cast: Zingarina: Asia Argento; Tchangalo: Birol Unel; Marie: Amira Casar; Luminitsa: Alexandra Beaujard; Milan: Marco Castoldi; Cabaret singer: Beata Palya.
No MPAA rating, running time 103 minutes.
- 10/10/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARIS -- "Transylvania", Tony Gatlif's latest excursion into Europe's ethnic byways, was chosen to close the Festival de Cannes this year, and it is easy to understand why: It's a love story involving rough-diamond protagonists, raucous gypsy music, majestic landscapes and an upbeat ending, deftly blended by one of the unsung heroes of art house cinema.
Gatlif has been here before -- "Gadjo Dilo" (1997), his biggest commercial success to date, also was shot in Romania -- but with a bigger budget and two up-and-coming actors in the lead roles, his latest movie could mark a breakthrough into mainstream markets.
When the feisty Zingarina (Asia Argento, also featured in Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette"), travels to Transylvania with her bosom friend Marie (Amira Casar) in tow to rejoin the father of the child she is carrying, she is in for a rude shock. Piano-player Milan (Marco Castoldi), who she thought had been expelled from France, tells her that he had in fact walked out on her, that he does not love her and that he wants nothing more to do with her.
Three months pregnant, Zingarina becomes hysterical, gives Marie the slip and, disguising herself as a gypsy, wanders around the countryside nursing her grief. She links up with Tchingalo (Birol Unel), a petty trader who travels the region buying up gold and silver trinkets for resale in the West. Sure enough, little by little, love blossoms.
It's tough love, of course. Zingarina still is too angry to give herself completely, and Tchangalo is by nature a loner. But by now we're in road-movie mode. As the incidents pile up -- notably, an exorcism for Zingarina, a beating up for Tchangalo by five brothers who believe he swindled their mother -- and the pregnancy approaches its term, they have plenty of time to smooth things over.
Zingarina finally gives birth on a snowbound hillside, Tchangalo's Mercedes having sunk axle-deep into the mud. Local midwives arrive by horse-drawn sleigh to help out, and villagers offer her shelter to rest and succor the child. Gatlif's narrative rather runs out of steam at this point: Zingarina vanishes, Tchangalo searches for her in vain, he inflicts violence on himself, she returns, he finds her, she smiles at him, fade to black and the closing credits. But there have been many pleasures along the way.
The Carpathian mountains form a magnificent backdrop to the story. Celine Bozon's cinematography captures perfectly the fading of autumn's browns and golds into the yellows and grays and, finally, the blinding whites of winter. The frequent mists and the timeless east European structures of Romania's wild north provide a fairy-tale quality to the settings.
With Zingarina speaking French with Marie and English with Tchangalo, not to mention the frequent snatches of Romanian, Romani, Hungarian, Russian and Italian, the movie presents a linguistic melting pot. The dialogue can best be described as functional, but then Gatlif's appeal always has been as much to the heart as to the head.
Music is central to this director's work. The action of Transylvania is punctuated from beginning to end by songs and dancing. Much of the music was composed by Gatlif, in collaboration with Delphine Mantoulet.
The movie is well served by Argento, who does the business as the hot-blooded abandoned mistress, but Unel (star of last year's European movie of the year "Head-On"), as the outsider about to come in from the cold, ultimately steals the picture from under her nose.
TRANSYLVANIA
Princes Films, Pyramide Prods.
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Tony Gatlif
Producers: Christian Paumier, Doru Mitran
Director of photography: Celine Bozon
Production designer: Brigitte Brassart
Music: Tony Gatlif, Delphine Mantoulet
Costume designer: Rose-Marie Melka
Editor: Monique Dartonne
Cast:
Zingarina: Asia Argento
Tchangalo: Birol Unel
Marie: Amira Casar
Luminitsa: Alexandra Beaujard
Milan: Marco Castoldi
Cabaret singer: Beata Palya
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Gatlif has been here before -- "Gadjo Dilo" (1997), his biggest commercial success to date, also was shot in Romania -- but with a bigger budget and two up-and-coming actors in the lead roles, his latest movie could mark a breakthrough into mainstream markets.
When the feisty Zingarina (Asia Argento, also featured in Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette"), travels to Transylvania with her bosom friend Marie (Amira Casar) in tow to rejoin the father of the child she is carrying, she is in for a rude shock. Piano-player Milan (Marco Castoldi), who she thought had been expelled from France, tells her that he had in fact walked out on her, that he does not love her and that he wants nothing more to do with her.
Three months pregnant, Zingarina becomes hysterical, gives Marie the slip and, disguising herself as a gypsy, wanders around the countryside nursing her grief. She links up with Tchingalo (Birol Unel), a petty trader who travels the region buying up gold and silver trinkets for resale in the West. Sure enough, little by little, love blossoms.
It's tough love, of course. Zingarina still is too angry to give herself completely, and Tchangalo is by nature a loner. But by now we're in road-movie mode. As the incidents pile up -- notably, an exorcism for Zingarina, a beating up for Tchangalo by five brothers who believe he swindled their mother -- and the pregnancy approaches its term, they have plenty of time to smooth things over.
Zingarina finally gives birth on a snowbound hillside, Tchangalo's Mercedes having sunk axle-deep into the mud. Local midwives arrive by horse-drawn sleigh to help out, and villagers offer her shelter to rest and succor the child. Gatlif's narrative rather runs out of steam at this point: Zingarina vanishes, Tchangalo searches for her in vain, he inflicts violence on himself, she returns, he finds her, she smiles at him, fade to black and the closing credits. But there have been many pleasures along the way.
The Carpathian mountains form a magnificent backdrop to the story. Celine Bozon's cinematography captures perfectly the fading of autumn's browns and golds into the yellows and grays and, finally, the blinding whites of winter. The frequent mists and the timeless east European structures of Romania's wild north provide a fairy-tale quality to the settings.
With Zingarina speaking French with Marie and English with Tchangalo, not to mention the frequent snatches of Romanian, Romani, Hungarian, Russian and Italian, the movie presents a linguistic melting pot. The dialogue can best be described as functional, but then Gatlif's appeal always has been as much to the heart as to the head.
Music is central to this director's work. The action of Transylvania is punctuated from beginning to end by songs and dancing. Much of the music was composed by Gatlif, in collaboration with Delphine Mantoulet.
The movie is well served by Argento, who does the business as the hot-blooded abandoned mistress, but Unel (star of last year's European movie of the year "Head-On"), as the outsider about to come in from the cold, ultimately steals the picture from under her nose.
TRANSYLVANIA
Princes Films, Pyramide Prods.
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Tony Gatlif
Producers: Christian Paumier, Doru Mitran
Director of photography: Celine Bozon
Production designer: Brigitte Brassart
Music: Tony Gatlif, Delphine Mantoulet
Costume designer: Rose-Marie Melka
Editor: Monique Dartonne
Cast:
Zingarina: Asia Argento
Tchangalo: Birol Unel
Marie: Amira Casar
Luminitsa: Alexandra Beaujard
Milan: Marco Castoldi
Cabaret singer: Beata Palya
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/4/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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