Tales of the Golden Age -

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka 'Tales From The Golden Age')

Directed by Hanno Höfer, Razvan Marculescu, Cristian Mungiu, Constantin Popescu and Ioana Uricaru
Romania / France 2009

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.

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Theatrical Release: May 19th, 2009 - Cannes Film Festival

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DVD Review: Trinity - Region 2 - PAL

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Trinity Production Co. - Region 2 - PAL
Runtime	2:06:04
Video	1.85:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.91 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Audio	Romanian (Dolby Digital 5.1), Romanian (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Trinity Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Edition Details: • The Legend of the Zealous Activist (17:39) • Trailer (2:23) DVD Release Date: February 8th, 2010 Keep Case Chapters: 13

Comments:

This is an outstanding image on the Trinity dual-layered, anamorphic and progressive DVD transfer. Colors are bright, detail crisp and flash tones appear accurate. There is even some notable depth which is unusual for the SD format. We get shorts; The Legend of the Official Visit, The Legend of the Chicken Driver, The Legend of the Party Photographer, The Legend of the Greedy Politician, The Legend of the Air Sellers and the extra contain a bonus The Legend of the Zealous Activist. Visual quality is consistent and excellent.

Audio-wise we get two flavors in original Romanian - 2.0 channel and, a fairly superfluous, 5.1 - both reporting the dialogue clearly and cleanly. There is not a lot of separation or effect noises to note. There are optional English subtitles (sample below).

Beyond the 2 hour feature we get one more 'Legend' - the Zealous Activist as a supplement. It runs about 17-minutes and more-or-less fits the molds of the 5 in the main feature. Plus there is a theatrical trailer.

I was reminded of the 'deadpan' existential films of Aki Kaurismaki. I was particularly keen on The Legend of the Official Visit and The Legend of the Chicken Driver. I've read some conflicting reports on reactions to Tales From The Golden Age. I wasn't in the mood to see it when I gave it a spin but it sank me into a comfortable, receptive state with great ease and that is one of the signs of a great film, in my opinion. All the accolades you have heard are true - it's amusing and witty in kind of a so-sad-you-have-to-laugh way. Trinity has done a great job with this DVD and it is certainly recommended!