19/05 - CANNES DAILY ON TALES FROM THE GOLDEN AGE

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19 May 2009 — "We need some pigeons, the motorcade is on its way!" The mayor of a Romanian country village is in panic mode. An official government inspection is scheduled this afternoon, and nothing is ready. Streets must be swept! Flags must be waved! Pigeons must be found! "We could hang some fruit from the trees", someone suggests. "No", the mayor sighs, "that would be ridiculous." This sequence kicks off Amintiri Din Epoca De Aur (Tales from the Golden Age), which screened today in Cannes and was written by Cristian Mungiu, winner of the Palme d'Or two years ago for his 4 Months, 3 Weks & 2 Days. What makes Mungiu's new film so funny and so sad is that it portrays Nicolae Ceauşescu's Romania with pinpoint accuracy. Look up Ceauşescu and you're reminded that "well-fed cows would be transported across the country in anticipation of his visits to farms". You can't make this stuff up. No eggs for Easter, no meat for Christmas, a black Volga around the corner waiting to take you to a prison cell — these were the facts of life for Romanians in 1989 during the "Golden Age of Communism." Good fairy tales, no matter how preposterous, always contain an element of truth about human nature. A young woman in Tales needs money to pay for a school trip her parents can't afford, so she becomes a con artist and a thief. She is Cinderella, suffering under the greed and malfeasance of the Ceauşescu regime. Those who choose to ignore fairy tales are doomed to make mistakes. Those who can laugh at their own history have taken a step in the right direction. — Randall KoralThis year NESPRESSO has Cannes covered, inside and out. Vincent Maraval gives us his take on the films his company, Wild Bunch, is screening during the festival ("Un Autre Regard," exclusively on NESPRESSO's website, daily at 6 p.m.). And Randall Koral, NESPRESSO's Cannes correspondent, serves up his impressions of the films and festivities as they happen ("Cannes Daily", 11 a.m. CET).