Румънската Нова вълнà – стари средства, нов стил
Romanian New Wave – Techniques and Style

Summary/Abstract: This paper is a contribution to the research of the most outstanding development in the recent East European cinema - the Romanian New Wave (Noul val românesc). Based on a brief commentary on the history of the term new wave, the text focuses on the internationally acclaimed films made in Romania from the beginning of the 2000’s until now. The new Romanian films and their artistic novelty have triggered a debate in the international media, which describe contemporary Romanian cinema as a global trendsetter, going beyond its local parameters. The Romanian New Wave arises from a new film-making generation who had a critical attitude of the cinema of the communist era. In less than a decade the works of Cristi Puiu, Nae Caranfil, Cristian Mungiu, Radu Muntean, Titus Muntean, Corneliu Porumboiu, Calin Peter Netzer, Cristian Nemescu, and Radu Jude who have earned great international recognition, introduced to the contemporary cinema a new aesthetics. Therefore, in my text I am trying to identify the specific artistic elements, common for the whole trend, which build up this new aesthetics. My study is based on analyzes of the major works of the movement: „4 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days”, by Mungiu; “The Dead of Mr. Lazarescu” by Puiu; “12:08 East of Bucharest” by Porumboiu; „California Dreaimin’ ” by Nemescu; „The Happiest Girl in the World” by Jude; „Medal of Honor” by Netzer; and “Kino Caravan” by Titus Muntean. Despite the fact that the concept of a “new wave” has been rejected by some of the most prominent Romanian directors themselves, their works attest a well elaborated and consistently followed common artistic style. It can be identified on every level of their films: genre definition, dramaturgical structure, visual organization, soundtrack, and actors’ performance. This style creates a specific suspense of the every-day life, based on the Aristotelian unity time – space - action, and on a scrupulous application of details. The attention to detail affects performance and dialogue too, both of which are remarkably realistic. The common theme of the Romanian New Wave, regardless of the plot variations in each film, is the confrontation of the heroes with their repressed motivations, secrets, and guilt. Therefore, all these movies expose one and the same dramatic structure, revealing some dark sides of the social makeup and of the heroes’ self. Possibly, the Romanian New Wave is one concerned with discovery of the reality through subjective perception. All the key characters in the analyzed films are trying to understand the world through their own perception of how the world seems. On visual level, this constrained point of view is represented through a static camera, and a refusal of bright lighting and metaphoric framing. The camera eye is fixed, inflexible, compulsive gazes like, and it investigates reality through very long takes.

• Details
• Contents