Ana Lungu\u2019s Merman<\/em>\/ Triton<\/em><\/strong> will be shown in a pre-release screening in Timi\u0219oara on 7 September. I couldn\u2019t find the official premiere date but it should happen soon, so keep an eye on it.<\/p>\n Merman<\/em> is a montage of home movies filmed between the 1940s and 1980s. The found footage is weaved by Lungu into a hypnotic sequence of lives and its most thrilling part is the dedicated to a professor of musicology, Alexandru Popovici (a pseudonym). Popovici had a large collection of videos and pictures of his family, his lovers, and his travels. Lungu arranges these snippets of life into a vivid portrait of a man passionate about many things, and beauty in all its forms. In a surprisingly frank section, we are shown many photographs of women in nude, erotic poses, a part that is not only shocking in its voyeuristic content but because these pics, if discovered then, would have gotten him arrested. His life was indeed one that took risks but also enjoyed privileges, like his travels abroad for (mostly) business trips. His visit to Switzerland to an old university friend is particularly moving. His profession, both officially and \u2018unofficially\u2019 is contained in the film\u2019s title. In musical theory, a tritone is an interval between three adjacent whole tones (six semitones), a dissonance and thus avoided in ecclesiastical medieval music, having then been called \u201cdiabolus in musica\u201d (Latin for \u201cDevil in music\u201d). \u201cTriton\u201d (the Greek god of the sea with the shape of a merman, the male equivalent of a mermaid) was also Popovici\u2019s code name as in informant given by the secret services (Securitate). It was indeed a complex life this man led, and Lungu passes no judgement on his choices while bringing to life, in the most vivid of colours, a complex existence against the backdrop of repressive times. It is an absolute revelation to witness life, love, friendship, family, and art depicted as so natural, with such freedom and joy while the political, always present, never upstages the personal. A vivid antidote to the clich\u00e9d depiction of life during Communism: grey, uniform, miserabilist.<\/p>\n The many (and metafictional) references of the title unfold in delightful strands, such as the structure of the film itself as a tryptic. Popovici\u2019s story is bookended by the filmmaker\u2019s uncle capturing his daughter\u2019s childhood and footage from the years of World War II, in ravishingly beautiful details.<\/p>\n What makes Merman<\/em> so impressive \u2013 for me the most memorable Romanian film in recent years \u2013 and sets it apart from other films using home movies is Lungu\u2019s earnest and deep concern about working with people\u2019s memories, people who are not around anymore. She is aware of her interpretation and manipulation of images and is a remarkably self-reflective (film)maker and commentator of what she sees and how she chooses to ‘combine’ it to tell intimate tales. Tales as collective destinies that span decades of history.<\/p>\n Tudor Platon\u2019s An Almost Perfect Family\/ O familie aproape perfect\u0103<\/strong>, <\/em>has just premiered theatrically and will be touring several cities (its Facebook page<\/a> lists all venues and dates, check it out).<\/p>\n I covered the doc last year<\/a> and am delighted to see it finally travel, hopefully accompanied by many discussions. I cannot imagine a more inviting topic from a film that asks how different generations express feelings, and how they know themselves. We are witnessing the filmmaker\u2019s parents separate while he meets his partner (Carla Fotea, the film\u2019s producer) and starts a family. The younger protagonists try to both understand their parents and avoid their mistakes in their own relationship.<\/p>\n The doc focuses mainly on Platon\u2019s mother, who is more at ease discussing feelings, and gently recognises each generation carrying their emotional load and doing their best.<\/p>\n An Almost Perfect Family<\/em> is contemplative, very personal and yet universal in its themes. I deeply admire its openness even if it made me uncomfortable in its most intimate moments (a sweet marriage proposal, postpartum depression) but I am aware that this might say more about me than what I saw on screen. And I also admire it for tackling such urgent themes (patterns of communication and affection, self-knowledge, intergenerational trauma), topics that have not been acknowledged or discussed for that long, whether in Romanian films or society. \u00a0<\/p>\n By Ioana Moldovan, columnist, <\/em>ioana.moldovan@romania-insider.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n (Photo info & source: still from <\/em>Merman, courtesy of 4Proof Film<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n