Watch Summer Holiday For Free

So much average

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

conquest of past, summer, the search of happiness, a family, two friends. a special Romanian film for its profound honesty. nothing need to demonstrate, nothing useful for convince. only a story about few people and ordinaries experience. at first sigh, a film about nothing. and that is its great virtue. because decade by decade the Romanian cinema was victim of a specific thesis. under communism - political thesis. after 1990 - social demonstration. Boogie has the rare gift to not be vehicle for any form of propaganda. it is only the honest portrait of a family in holiday. few good young actors. a smart script. decent performances. a story without high ambitions. that is its great virtue. and the difference by a cinema lost in different demonstration's forms.

'Summer Holiday' follows the format audiences have come to expect from new-wave Romanian cinema - long scenes with fine actors using improvised dialog, filmed in wide shots by hand-held camera. The story unfolds over fifteen or so hours in a chilly coastal resort where 30-something Boogie is spending a few days Spring vacation with his pregnant wife, Smaranda and their young son. He runs into some old friends who persuade him to join them for a drink, and the evening leads to an opportunity for Boogie to misbehave. The film's shortcomings are apparent in the first scene on the beach where Boogie hectors his son for poor sand-castle construction skills and bickers with Smaranda - it's repetitive, lasts too long, and the characters are not particularly engaging. These flaws reappear in too many of the subsequent scenes where the actors portray the petty selfishness, irresponsibility and banality of contemporary life.Even though the talented cast deliver authentic performances, the story and characters lack sufficient substance to make their efforts truly compelling. Despite the presence of Anamaria Marinca, who was so outstanding in 'Four Months, Three Weeks, Two Days', 'Summer Holiday' falls a long way short of the originality and intensity of the earlier film.

I regret wasting two hours of my life with this film. Plot-wise, it is utterly pointless, Dragos Bucur's unconvincing struggle with his midlife crisis managed only to annoy the hell out of me. Frankly, it was so bad that it became uncomfortable to watch and I even considered walking out of the theatre, but I endured eventually. Also, from a technical point of view, this film is the perfect example of a standard Romanian production. Sound quality and cinematography are ridiculous. The background noises manage to drown half of the lines (not that one misses much wit there). Everything that could go wrong in a typically Romanian film goes wrong. There is really no point in seeing this for yourself, save two hours of your life and watch something else.

I guess Radu Muntean was wrong by expecting his movie to have more appeal to the general audience than "Hartia va fi albastra". It's obviously too subtle and stylish. As one can easily notice, the uneducated spectators, brain-washed by the blockbusters, are simply unable to grok it.Bogdan Ciocazan's struggle with the final good-bye to youth and ultimate step into maturity is convincing and full of feeling, and it really touches one's heart. What annoyed me for real were the reactions of the few baboons who left the theater, muttering about "hey, it ain't nuthin' but words 'ere, nuthin' does't 'appenin'!" Again, Tudor Lucaciu's cinematography is a perfect example of the new values reached by Romanian movie-making - but you need to have watched more than Nicolaescu and Dragan, shot by old-timers as Girardi, to fully appreciate a stylish photography. As such, it's strongly recommended to see it - but, of course, only if you know what cinema is about. If not, no loss - "Poveste de cartier" is waiting for you, with its light-drowning images and hifi Dolby manele!