De ce s-a luat Ursul de Aur pentru 'Poziţia copilui': 'Muncesc îngrozitor de mult'

Studiu de caz despre 'Poziţia copilului' după ce presa s-a mutat pe alte subiecte.

1. Alegerea şi distribuirea unor actori fireşti - Bogdan Dumitrache şi mai ales Luminiţa Gheorghiu. Ceea ce poate nu ştie publicul român şi posturile generaliste de ştiri care au preluat ştirea ca ştirea zilei din obligaţie, este că Luminiţa Gheorghiu a lucrat sub îndrumarea lui Michael Haneke, spre exemplu, în 2000, alături de Juliette Binoche sau, în alt rol, alături de Isabelle Huppert.
 
Luminiţa Gheorghiu, "Catrina" din "Morometii", mai lipsea să joace in California Dreamin' ca să fie prezentă în cele mai bune filme româneşti de după Revoluţie (După dealuri (2012), Aurora (2010) , Francesca (2009), Nuntă mută (2008), 4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile (2007), A fost sau n-a fost? (2006), Moartea domnului Lăzărescu (2005), Marfa şi banii (2001), etc)

'Muncesc îngrozitor de mult. Întotdeauna am fost conștiincioasă şi atentă, dar de ani de zile mi se pare tot mai complicat. La „Moartea domnului Lăzărescu”, de exemplu, nu-mi aduc aminte să fi fost mai mult de 5,8, maximum 8 repetiţii. De pe la 50 de ani m-a apucat frica [...] Dacă există actori care nu se frământă nu e bine! Eu am spus toată viaţa că trebuie să trăieşti pentru locul întâi, să trăieşti pentru nota 10 şi atunci poate iei un 9'. Răsplata? A fost premiată şi acum la nivel internaţional, după ce în 2007 primeşte premiul pentru cel mai bun rol secundar feminin la Los Angeles, pentru "Moarta domnului Lăzărescu".

Apoi regizorul Călin Peter Netzer a recunoscut în cadrul conferinţei de la Berlin prietenia care îl leagă cu protagonistul Bogdan Dumitrache, în viaţa reală. Dumitrache a avut roluri comune cu Luminiţa Gheorghiu în 'Moartea domnului Lăzărescu', dar a mai apărut şi în 'Loverboy', 'În derivă', 'Portretul luptătorului la tinereţe', 'Cum mi-am petrecut sfârşitul lumii' sau 'Hârtia va fi albastră'.

2. Experiență cu piața germană pentru regizorul român - Călin Peter Netzer trăieşte în Germania de 12 ani.

3. Stilul semi-documentar de filmare. În cadrul conferinţei de la Berlin regizorul a explicat cât de greu s-a filmat (două camere şi două lumini care trebuiau să se mişte mereu), cadre close-up care urmăresc foarte multe personajele pentru a oferi şi mai multă adâncime (şi nu neapărat în stilul 'static' al precedentelor producţii româneşti). Apoi, post-editarea a durat 2 luni. 126 de pagini de scenariu filmate în 30 de zile, în locaţii mici, apartamente. Deci foarte greu de filmat, dar uneori s-a filmat şi 16 ore pe zi.

3. Selecţia diferită a festivalului de la Berlin, în comparaţie cu cel de la Cannes sau Veneţia. Der Spiegel a scris despre faptul că a 63-a ediţia a Festivalului de la Berlin a transmis astfel un mesaj de încurajare în faţa producţiilor cu bugete de filmare mult mai mari.

5. Insight-ul regizorului şi al scenaristului. Călin Peter Netzer a spus că s-a inspirat foarte mult din relaţia acestuia cu mama sa. Chiar şi Luminiţa Gheorghiu, după ce a citit scenariul a spus că ştie personal o asemenea familie. Generalizând, insightul este universal valabil - mamele din lumea întreagă 'derapează' în ceea ce priveşte dragostea maternă. 'Dragostea ţine de patologic. Este un discurs despre iubirea mamei care trebuie înţeleasă dincolo de abjecţie, nu este un discurs despre rolul femeii în România', a comentat şi scenaristul Răzvan Rădulescu.

6. 'Child's Pose' e o poziţie de yoga, chiar a existat o astfel de postură pentru personajul, Cornelia, în film, care a fost scoasă la montaj.

All in all, filmele româneşti din 2010 au demonstrat ieşirea de sub kino-comunismul atât de blamat  ( 'Aurora', 'După dealuri'), spre o mutare a realismului mai în stilul lui Haneke.


# About the Romanian movie 'Child's pose' awarded with Golden Bear at the Belin Festival.

Foto: hollywoodreporter.com

Sampling on beer in Czech Republic (I)

When I first got to Czech Republic a guy in the bus mentioned me that very day to be cautious with the Czech coins - that I can buy a lot of beers with that. How to do sampling on beer in CR where a wide range of beers is available, with more than 80 breweries?

So we started with the local, the omnipresent beer of Brno - second largest Czech city -  'Starobrno'. Maybe the locals love this beer, but I've found it a little bit too bitter, and 'filling', how the Americans are calling the thing.

Funny things was when we first stoped for a beer in CR, we asked for a 'pivo' (beer), we got a ... Stella Artois (also the Americans are very fond of the Belgian beer)

Then we hit a very local pub where they had a local brand called 'Ferdinand' (24 Czech korunas ≈ 1 euro) very tasty in the way that is a honey beer, maybe the first option for a girl, along with the dark version of Velkopopovicky Kozel (which is maybe one of the few Czech dark beers that has less alcohol - just 3,8% - than its blonde edition ). But the locals are appreciating the light-coloured ('svetle') version of Kozel, which I've found it to be plain water, we can say is very light and clear - the American refreshement type.

As draught beer is normally served in half-liter glass mugs everywhere here and the waiters are asking you for 'another pivo' when you haven't finished your last pint, we really have to introduce Plzensky Prazdroj (Pilsner Urquell), which is the most popular, fair enough. The term 'pilsner' came into use when the brewery in Pilsen (Plzen) made the beer for the first time in 1842.

The original Budweiser comes from Czech Republic

The bohemian region has also another known brand, coming this time from south, Budweiser Budvar, brewed in Ceske Budejovice, exported very well, like Pilsner Urquell. The 'Czech Budvar' (Budweiser), the beer which calls itself 'the beer of kings' is different from the American Bud, and claimed, by the Czechs, to be the original Budweiser, though is not that much appreciated as a beer here. On the other hand Czech Budvar has also a 'Specialni pivo' edition that has no less than 7% alcohol.

There's no king of the beer here, but tons of local delicious beers

So it is quite impossible to say which Czech beer is the best. 'Radegast' has won the Czech beer of the year three times in a row. 'Velkopopovicky kozel' won the gold medal for beer in 1995. Then maybe 'Gambrinus', which is the biggest beer brand in selling number, telling maybe by its price.

If we're discussing by the amount of malt extract used in the brewing process then the highest degree is served in a bottle by 'Pernstein' from Pardubice.

You can find on the shelves of Czech supermakets also commercial and fancy models and cans - 'Kopparberg' (a Sweedish pear cider), a glutten free beer like 'Celia' ( 'bez lepku 4%), but Czech are not going for cans and 0,33 ml bottles at all.


Then 'Bernard' is packed like Grolsch, 'Svijany' is a very good beer, 'Primator Weizebier' - 5% also,  and so on. Let's mention also some en-gross brands ( 'Greslak' , 'Klasik' :), 'Pardal' ('vyladěné samotnymi pijaky = tuned by the consumers themselves', 'Branik' 4,1 %, etc. Again, another couchsurfer confirmed that she diggs Svijany beer and also Staropramen 12° nonfiltred.

UPDATE! Someone asked us where is 'Lobkowicz', 'Krušovice' and 'Poutnik ' from our list . Oh, now we remember - we tried 'Lobkowicz' and 'Krušovice' since we got to CR - 'Krušovice' very good,  'Lobkowicz' we cannot remember much. But not 'Poutnik ' at all, so we've been offered this list with all the places in Brno where we can find the beer. Now we remember even more - we tried Policka in Boro pub - nice.

Our beer-to-try-list: 'Indian ale'  and 'Weizen' (available for sure in 'The immigrant' pub (a good environment + 

a delicious double hamburger, in Brno. Also, we've been advised to go to Středověká krčma in náměstí Svobody
for a 'Svijany' (again!) and also 'Korma' (the mixture of beer and medovina = special alcoholic drink made of honey). Also, to enjoy 'Litovelské pivo' and 'Cerna Hora' beer (which we tried couple of days ago, we found it very

good. Also 'another Brno's small brewery is in the city centre, its called Pegas - worth to visit as well.

So keep doing the sampling for us.

Conclusion: First choice, of course – the Pilsner larger – top fermented and maturated at low temperatures – something that gave a name to the whole category.

* The first Czech cookbook, written by Magdalena Dobromila Rettigova, included a recipe for beer soup!

# Sampling pe bere în Cehia. Când am ajuns prima oară în Cehia un tip mi-a zis să am grijă de monedele lor pentru că o să-mi cumpăr multe beri cu ele. Făcând un top pe scurt al celor mai consumate beri ar fi Plzensky Prazdroj (Pilsner Urquel - pe bună dreptate - a introdus şi categoria de bere pilsner), Staropramen (ieftină şi decentă), apoi probabil Starobrno (omniprezentă ca firmă pe toate barurile, slabă ca bere). Starobrno e chiar amară şi 'less filling' cum spun americanii.

Apoi Ferdinand (24 de coroane ≈ 1 euro) mai dulce, probabil cea mai bună bere pentru de fete din Cehia, alături de berea Cozel brună.

Când am ajuns prima oară în Brno şi am cerut un pivo (bere), cum mi-a recomandat o prietenă, mi s-a adus un Stella Artois. Când în Cracovia într-un pub am cerut o bere bună ni s-a recomandat o bere din Cehia, deşi over-the-counter barmanul mai avea şi 8 branduri poloneze.

'Seven Psychopats': L.A at its best

Just saw 'Seven Psychopats'. Nice as follows.

Is against all gangsters cliches.
'Paulo: Put your hands up!
Hans: No.
Paulo: What?
Hans: I said no.
Paulo: Why not?
Hans: Because I don't want to.
Paulo: But I've got a gun...
Hans: I don't care.
Paulo: It doesn't make any sense!
Hans: Too bad!
..........................................................
Zachariah: I'm going to be over to kill you Tuesday.
Marty: [Nods] . That's good, I'm not doing anything Tuesday.'



Good underground actors. Michael Pitt , Michael Stuhlbarg (both from the TV series Boardwalk Empires), Sam Rockwell (know from some classics, but also 'Frost/Nixon' and 'Choke', being the same psychopath also back there. Not to mention Christopher Walken or let's say Colin Farrell.

Also, not to forget the natural born killer Woody Harrelson, although he did also political movies, plus No Country for Old Men and so on. + Tom Waits.

Credibility. Farrell is well known also in real life to have an alcohol addiction and to be living in Los Angeles. L.A is also depicted as real as it gets, except with the kidnapping dogs scam. When talking about L.A you get also those Californian cars. There's this screenwriting-video making-actor-building industry in L.A that is perfectly underlined in the movie.

Trivia. Farrell wakes up 5 times completely drunk in this movie. Is also funny how the gangsters are made humans by sticking them with some bunnies, flowers and cute dogs, crying and having problems handling condoms. You don't get that a lot in the gangester movies.

Music that gets you and good video cuts. So that seems very low cost and realistic / local for LA.

Screenwriting hints.'Is laywered', 'you cannot explode a head like that', some of the psychopaths really prove a screenwriter insight.

Excentric presidential race for Czechs, in their first direct election

Voters in the Czech Republic are choosing directly, for the first time, their next head-of-state, a successor for the President Vaclav Klaus.

The candidates? Nine personages from whom to choose - two former prime ministers (frontrunners according to opinion polls), the noble austrian Foreign Minister, then a drama professor and composer (covered all over his body in blue tattoos), an ex-communist, and 3 women (an ex-actrice, a MEP, and the head of Eurosceptic Movement).

Jan Fischer and Milos Zeman (billboard photo), the two ex-prime ministers had had hard times on getting over their past background - the former was member of the Communist Party, while the later's activity in the cabinet was quite controversial.

Milos Zeman (photo above), the leftiest prime minister during 1998-2002 is a hard-drinking, chain-smoking politician, known for his witty put-downs of his political opponents, remarks BBC. But locals seems to complain about the fact Zeman, and other names like Democrat civil, Premysl Sobotka, are in the politics for more than 20 years. Zeman was for two years even member of ex communist party (KSC) .

Vladimir Franz (photo above), also called 'The Avatar' communicates mostly on social networks. You're not supposed to know that much about his political platform when he has all his body, covered with blue tattoos, he is an art theacher, a painter, and a composer. All these, of course, for the delight of international press, mostly American journals.

Karel Schwarzenberg (foto above) designed his position as a favourite one among the young urban voters, telling by his bohemian personage - quite atypique for our days' politics, not that much of a stiff diplomate, even if he dealt with politics on the Foreign Minister position, but more of a historian- intelectual looking. Like a truly man from the Interbelics, a figure like that would have been validated 80 years ago without second-guesses.

One student told me about Schwarzenberg that 'he speaks very nice', when I asked why she's endorsing Karel with the funky yellow-pinky badge (photo down). Should the urban endorsing be enough? On the other side, youngsters were complaining that he's too old (75 years of age). Leaving this aside his name is closely linked to the country's first president, the late Vaclav Havel, and that of course is bringing him a nice image capital, for the second round.

In Romania (or other less open-minded country) all these personages would have been seriously scrutinized and analyzed in a very pejorative-caricaturistic way, both by tabloids and quality press, so from this point of view it seems fair enough how their platforms are received here.

Schwarzenberg represents also a political party TOP 09 (right) among candidates, together with the VP of social-democrats (CSSD) Jiri Dientsbier, and VP of another right movement OSD, Premysl Sobotka.

The election will go to a second round two weeks later as no candidate won 50% of the vote, Zeman scoring first (24,21%), followed by Schwarzenberg (23,40%). Polling stations opened on the 11th of January and they have been closed until this hour as everyone expects to see the first president chosen by direct vote, and not the Parliament as it was before. The change in the election system happened after the controversy over Klaus's re-election, and was officialised as a election method since 2012.

The president of Czech Republic has the right to name and dismiss the prime minister and other members of the cabinet, to promulgate laws voted by the Parliament or to cast his veto vote. Can also name members of Central Bank, jugdges and army generals.

The presence at the election polls is was said to have been around 70 percent for Friday and Saturday, 11 and 12 of January, according to Czech press. Whoever wins 2 weeks from now on, the Czech Republic will have a better cooperation with EU, after the end of Vaclav Klaus, the irascible president, who once likened the European Union to the Soviet Union.

# Cum comunică candidaţii prezidenţiali din Cehia - fostul ministrul de Externe Karel Schwarzenberg, (membru al unei monarhii) are insigne în care apare purtând o creastă roz, iar candidatul artist Vladimir Franz este tatuat pe tot corpul.

Jazzz from Brno: Gustav Brom, tell it like it is

Searching on Wikipedia for some beloved artistic figures of Brno I got clubbed by this Gustav Brom, fellow musician, big band leader, arranger, clarinetist and composer what-so-ever jazz man.

In just 20 ys of performances till the 60's, Brom’s band was worldwide one of the top ten big-bands according to American jazz polls. They jumped from bop or cool to jazz west coast and even dixieland and dance.

Fotograful român Kristian Schuller, dincolo de Penelope Cruz

Despre fotograful născut în Romania, germanizat, Paris-izat, presa română nu a înţeles mai nimic atunci când Schuller a realizat pictorialul cu Penelope Cruz pentru calendarul Campari 2013.

Uitându-te prin shooting-urile şi pozele semnate de el fotografia fashion - un sirop pentru tuse - pare mai uşor de înghiţit pentru că imaginile lui sunt atât de eterice şi de bine lucrate. Surprinzător, artistul spune chiar că e un prieten al minimalismului.

Bouton, Campari, Nike, Vogue Hellas, Harper’s Bazaar, Stiefelkonig şi Vogue Gioiello sunt câteva dintre brandurile pe care a lucrat, după ce a studiat atât fotografia, cât şi fashion design-ul (în Paris, sub tutela lui Vivienne Westwood).

Fotografia de modă nu e posibilă fără modă, după cum a spus-o iarăşi Schuller, dar dincolo de asta a făcut poze fotbaliştilor pentru GQ, lui Gisele Buendchen, sau lui Heidi Klum, pentru evenimente ruseşti, săptămâni de modă etc.

Asta, plus o soţie art director pentru proiectele sale. Aşadar nu e nicio surpriză că pe site-ul lui vei găsi portrete de oameni simpli din Transilvania alături de cele ale lui H. Klum sau G. Buendchen, spoturi avantgardiste şi printuri răvăşite de reclame pentru parfumuri şi reviste.

Proiectul interesant pentru un fotograf a fost un road story prin America, prin circuri părăsite, cu buget limitat şi multe improvizaţii:

# About the photo artist Kristian Schuller, trying to make the most out of fashion photo. The romanian born, now moved and working in an artistic arondisement in Paris, swings from fashion shootings to perfume prints and abandoned circuses in the middle of nowhere US, into a deserted field with Cadillacs in L.A - trying to make his image - not at all of a poshy fash' flash guy photographer.

'In the end is not about how you get the story, but just to be able to tell it'. (KS)