Tales from the Golden Age

Writer-director Cristian Mungiu, whose 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days was an early masterpiece of the Romanian New Wave, is the guiding force behind this anthology film (co-helmed by four colleagues) that serves up six sardonic “legends” about life under communist strongman Nicolae Ceausescu, all of them marked by deadpan absurdity. The first tale chronicles a village's preparations for a possible visit from a government motorcade—ending with the planners trapped on a carousel. The second piece is a workplace comedy in which frazzled newspaper staff frantically try to doctor a photo of the dictator to meet ideological standards, while the third is about a true-believer who goes to a village to teach illiterate adults to read, only to encounter hostility. The fourth story revolves around a cop who tries to kill a pig in his apartment without alerting neighbors that he possesses such a succulent prize, and the fifth follows two young scammers fleecing comrades by posing as government inspectors. The final segment centers on a conscientious truck driver who is persuaded by a beautiful restaurateur to pilfer eggs from his cargo of chickens. As with all omnibus efforts, Tales from the Golden Age—the term the regime used to refer to the Ceausescu era—is sometimes uneven, and the laidback tone won't appeal to everyone, but the overall standard is high, deftly capturing the mood of a nation emerging from an oppressive past, with a mixture of wit and sad resignation. Recommended. (F. Swietek)