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FESTIVALS Romania

The unsaveable, or just The Unsaved?

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- Igor Cobileanski’s acclaimed feature debut is competing for the Romanian Days awards at the Transilvania IFF

The unsaveable, or just The Unsaved?
The Unsaved by Igor Cobileanski

The 13th edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival boasts a strong Romanian Days competition, with 12 features released or produced in Romania during the last year. Although the sidebar’s top award is expected to go to Andrei Gruzsniczki’s Quod erat demonstrandum [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrei Gruzsniczki
interview: Andrei Gruzsniczki
film profile
]
, Igor Cobileanski’s Romanian-Moldovan co-production The Unsaved [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
is a very serious contender for the Best First Feature Award.

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Already nominated in a record 11 Gopo Awards categories this year, The Unsaved succeeds in bringing to the big screen a great, grey and funny backdrop of a Moldovan provincial town, where 19-year-old Viorel (a very promising newcomer, Igor Babiac) has almost no prospects. He earns a certain amount of money by trafficking marijuana in a clever system devised by his best friend, Goose (Sergiu Voloc), and watches beautiful hairdresser Maria (Ela Ionescu), who is waiting for Tomcat, her boyfriend and Goose’s former dealing partner, to return from prison. Pestered by his mother, Viorel soon realises that he will only have a future if he changes something in his life and tries to take some steps in the right direction… 

The film’s Romanian title means “at the lower limit of the sky”, and this is an inspired way to describe the protagonists’ misery as well as their goals, especially when taking into account the fact that Goose’s main occupation outside dealing is mending a powered hang glider that he tries to restore to a flyable condition in the foggy outskirts of the town. The metaphor is obvious: their lives, just like the glider, only need a gust of wind in the right direction… 

Shot by Romania’s most famous DoP, Oleg Mutu (The Death of Mr Lăzărescu [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cristian Mungiu
interview: Oleg Mutu
film profile
]
, Beyond the Hills [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cosmina Stratan
interview: Cristian Mungiu
interview: Cristian Mungiu
interview: Cristian Mungiu
film profile
]
, In Bloom [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simo…
film profile
]
), the film suggests the perhaps unsaveable state of the little Moldovan town. The sun never seems to shine there, and every scene is shot in the early morning, at night or during a grey, overcast day. Even the lower limit of the sky seems out of reach for the endearing Viorel, aware that ambition and hard work cannot stir the deadly waters of the frozen town where everything seems motionless.

It’s not surprising to discover that the screenplay was initially written by Corneliu Porumboiu, who set the events in his hometown, Vaslui (the drab backdrop for his Caméra d’Or winner 12:08 East of Bucharest [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Corneliu Porumboiu
interview: Daniel Burlac
film profile
]
and his acclaimed second feature, Police, Adjective [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Corneliu Porumboiu
film profile
]
). However, Cobileanski changed the setting and added in his famous sense of humour, which led to his comedy shorts When the Lights Go Out, Saşa, Grişa and Ion, and Inspiration being watched by millions on YouTube. The director’s excellent flair for absurd humour is obvious in almost every sequence of The Unsaved, luring the audience into a slow-paced but endearing world where the viewer certainly invests hope in a brighter future for the characters. 

The actors’ performances are one of the most interesting qualities of the film, proving that Cobileanski is excellent at directing his cast. Extremely natural and convincing, the performances show no trace of the theatrical education that the overwhelming majority of Romanian actors receive, which makes them pronounce their lines as if on stage. Everything about The Unsaved leads us to eagerly await not only the director’s next feature, but also Small Time Gangster, an HBO Europe TV series that Cobileanski will direct after his experience with small-town Moldovan thugs.

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