{"id":4360,"date":"2025-03-27T14:03:05","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T14:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=4360"},"modified":"2025-03-27T14:03:05","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T14:03:05","slug":"romanian-film-review-how-much-is-the-cabbage-and-assorted-other-offerings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=4360","title":{"rendered":"Romanian film review \u2013 How Much Is the Cabbage? And Assorted Other Offerings."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ten years ago, filmmaker \u0218erban Georgescu bought 250 kg of cabbage for 10 euros (his mother needed all for pickling!) and so he made an experiment: he added a new profession to his r\u00e9sum\u00e9 and went to plant potatoes and cabbage for one year and see if there was a way to make more than the bare minimum by selling the produce after a year of hard work and high costs for labour, gasoline, water, and equipment. This is how <em>Cabbage, Potatoes and Other Demons\/ Varz\u0103, cartofi \u0219i al\u021bi demoni<\/em> came about. Now he has returned to the village of Lungule\u021bu after a decade to meet the people again and see if and what changed. The revelation might not be a huge surprise, but I will not spoil it for you because Georgescu\u2019s film does a great job at getting there. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Most of<em> Cabbage, Potatoes and Other Demons. 10 Years Later \/ Varz\u0103, cartofi \u0219i al\u021bi demoni. Dup\u0103 10 ani <\/em>recalls the initial endeavour by including the earlier footage and then adds the current part at the end. The re-watch was just as revelatory as it was years ago, and the update makes perfect sense. Unless one is involved in any kind of agricultural work, there are so many surprises here, most of them infuriating, and it becomes clear why agriculture is a failing business in Romania, a consequence of communism-indebted thinking on one side and a mix of state incompetence and lack of collective thinking on the other. As sad as labour and its unperceived worth are, Georgescu is an assured, witty storyteller, able to pack complex matters in clear and funny bits, and he brings such an infectious love and generosity for the people he befriends that the film is also very entertaining. Staging himself as a hapless but endearing protagonist makes it more likeable. But for sure you&#8217;ll never look at your cabbage the same way again. <em>Cabbage, Potatoes and Other Demons. 10 Years Later<\/em> has just been released online for free, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=avh9H3VkHO0\">you can watch it here<\/a> and below.<\/p>\n<p>More local productions, both recent and old, are currently visiting Bra\u0219ov. I am happy whenever I can recommend something in this city. I grew up nearby and visit regularly and there is so much room for a more exciting cultural life. Hopefully time, enthusiasm, and a supportive local political climate will make it happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cinema.astra\">Cinema Astra<\/a>, run by the city, is one of the former state-owned cinemas rehabilitated and re-opened for the public a few years ago and occasionally hosts festivals and events. There is no regular theatre programme \u2013 more transparency about its opening times and profile would help. So it\u2019s good to see it working again after a longer break because the last time I remember it being open was spring 2024. Until 29 April it\u2019s hosting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitbv.ro\/en\/news-and-events\/news\/6872-cinemaunit-en-2025.html\">CinemaUniT<\/a>, a showcase of classics and contemporary fare, thrown together without much of a visible concept: fiction of various genres, animation, documentary, ethnographic and musical content. But it\u2019s certainly a varied bag to please everyone. <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ion_Popescu-Gopo\">Ion Popescu-Gopo<\/a> was a brilliant cartoonist and so lovely to see his 1989 <em>Maria and Mirabella in Transistorland\/ Maria \u0219i Mirabela \u00een Tranzistoria<\/em>, in which the two eponymous girls get lost in a TV set, a mix of animation and live action. Nicolae Corjos\u2019 <em>Confessions of Love\/ Declara\u021bie de dragoste<\/em> (1986) was also a hugely popular love story. On the new side, Emanuel P\u00e2rvu\u2019s <em>Three Kilometres to the End of the World\/ Trei kilometri p\u00e2n\u0103 la cap\u0103tul lumii<\/em> and Bogdan Mure\u0219anu\u2019s <em>The New Year That Never Came\/ Anul Nou care n-a fost<\/em> are two of last year\u2019s most seen and talked about films. The entrance is free and the projections are accompanied by talks with film teams and guests. Separate discussions and masterclasses (e.g. on literary adaptations) are hosted by Transilvania University of Bra\u0219ov.<\/p>\n<p><em>By Ioana Moldovan, columnist, <\/em><a href=\"mailto:ioana.moldovan@romania-insider.com\"><em>ioana.moldovan@romania-insider.com<\/em><\/a><br \/>\n<em>(Photo info &amp; source: still from <\/em>Cabbage, Potatoes and Other Demons<em>, courtesy of Kolectiv Film) \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"video-embed-field-provider-youtube video-embed-field-responsive-video\">\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-embed-field-provider-youtube video-embed-field-responsive-video\">\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-embed-field-provider-youtube video-embed-field-responsive-video\">\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-embed-field-provider-youtube video-embed-field-responsive-video\">\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-embed-field-provider-youtube video-embed-field-responsive-video\">\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-embed-field-provider-youtube video-embed-field-responsive-video\">\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ten years ago, filmmaker \u0218erban Georgescu bought 250 kg of cabbage for 10 euros (his mother needed all for pickling!) and so he made an experiment: he added a new profession to his r\u00e9sum\u00e9 and went to plant potatoes and cabbage for one year and see if there was a way to make more than [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4360\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}