Don’t let all the smiles of the erroneously designed DVD cover fool you.

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu is not your typical summer blockbuster. It will not dazzle you with special effects or sexy celebrities. It does not have a flag-waving ending where F-16s zoom overhead to the sounds of Rock You Like A Hurricane. No, this film attempts to represent the gritty details of the reality of life and death for Romanian pensioners as the world keeps right on moving.

Odds are it will touch you. You may feel saddened at the lack of diginity afforded to humans. You may be outraged by the arrogance and indifference. You will probably grapple with the conflict between how much suffering was the cause of tragedy outside his control or whether he brought some punishment upon himself. In any event, you will not be a passive observer of yet another mindless, boiler-plate Hollywood template. The brute strength of realism will keep you engrossed for the entire two hours and thirty four minutes.

I’ll attempt to avoid spoilers by summarizing the basic plot carefully. The movie is set in a rather typical apartment of Bucureşti where we find 63-year old Dante Remus Lazarescu feeling terribly (sometimes violently) ill and in need of relief. As he talks with his cats, interacts with relatives by telephone, and seeks help from his neighbors, we begin to understand some of the background of who he is.

Eventually, his condition steadily worsens and the setting changes to the inner workings of Romanian doctors and hospital staff. Throughout the film are references to pervasive alcohol problems among Romania’s elderly population, revealing details on the challenges faced by medical personnel in many modern cities, and an exposé on the attitude and pecking-order of Romanian doctors.

Director Cristi Puiu must have worked painstakingly hard to create this piece of art. The details are all a perfect slice of life whether it is inside the Ceauşescu-style communist apartments, during an ambulance ride through the streets of Bucureşti, witnessing the disturbingly accurate health care facilities, or in the progression of Mr. Lazarescu’s fate. The characters of Mr. Lazarescu and Mioara are particularly engaging. Dialogue is witty, sharp, and without fluff. Each line seems to have its purpose in bringing us closer to understanding the environment we witness.

All the actors and actresses deliver their parts with remarkable skill which is sure to boost their respective careers by making a strong impression on other film-makers. As a highlight, Ioan Fiscuteanu, Mihai Bratila, and Rodica Lazar turned in particularly stunning performances.

On camera work, it should be noted there seemed to be a distinct lack of stabilizers which shows up as some jitters here and there. Don’t worry, it’s nothing like disaster of Blair Witch. I think the Death of Mr. Lazarescu could have benefitted from some enhanced camera handling to eliminate these quirks. However, I’m sure there were tough budgetary constraints to work within.

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, the second feature-length film from director Cristi Puiu, won both the top “Un Certain Regard Prize” at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival and the “Silver Hugo” award from the 2005 Chicago International Film Festival in addition to recently being nominated for Best Foreign Film at the upcoming 2006 Independent Spirit Awards.

Puiu described the film thusly;

“Mr. Lazarescu speaks about a world where love for our fellow man doesn’t exist, about someone whose need for help is ignored by all around him… Learning the truth about a situation, however banal, can take a lifetime. The story takes place over six hours, but it can’t be told in real time. The filmmaker has to choose those bits of reality to capture. Every time you cut, you turn the camera or your eye towards one situation, you turn your back on another.”

I describe it as required viewing for story lovers and fans of cinematic art. I describe it as clear justification for future, larger projects to be given to the director and several of the actors and actresses. I describe it as: death.

During recent Feats of Strength, I had the ShareRiff of Noddingham pinned to the floor and forced him to admit mindphasedly his fleeting interest in underground music of Romania. Aşa!

With the falling of the Iron Curtain, new voices with a very heavy American influence took center stage in Romania. One of the more interesting aspects was the widespread popularity of rap music across all of Eastern Europe.

Young people everywhere seemed to empathize with the underlying themes of the ‘economically disadvantaged’ present throughout much of the hip-hop genre. Poverty, crime, corruption, a disgusted rage against the sense of hopelessness: it all resonated.

The natural consequence was imitation, the sincerest form of flattery. Kids in ugly communist-built neighborhoods fantasized about being coming a rap superstar and living large in an escapist reaction to their surroundings.

Not unlike the streets of America, where each year a new hip-hop king climbs to the top of the pile for a couple years before being replaced by someone new… while the record companies make all the money.

Rising like a phoenix from the ashes of Pantelimon, one of the least desirable neighborhoods in Bucureşti (itself the already dilapidated, crime-ridden capital of Romania) came the voice of three homies in 1993 who brought originality and legitimacy to hip-hop street scene in the guise of the Bucureşti UnderGround Mafia.

BUG Mafia clearly studied both the rapmasters of the East Coast, like Run DMC and Public Enemy, as well as the hip-hop giants of the West Coast, including NWA and Ice-T. They learned from the best of the original kings of the street. Forget fake acts like Eninem or flavors of the month like Chingy! BUG Mafia based their initial hip-hop efforts on the old school innovators who built up the craft.

However, they did put their own unique stamp on it as you might expect. The soundscape and lyrical contents are definitely Romanian, yet still accessible to the American hip-hop fan. Basically, if you like rap, BUG Mafia has got the goods for you, dawg.

Topics run the gamut of standard street themes about poverty, women, crime, and police as well as the political highmindedness of their musical forebearers discussing the sickening corruption and national pride (an interesting twist which is opposite of its American heritage).

The beats are phat and they know how to keep rhythm. They’ve got a host of accompanying sound effects, from police sirens and human vocal noise to bells and whistles. The bass can rattle your subwoofer and make them girlies kula shake.

Ready to sample a few tracks? It’s hard to take any group who has been producing records for nearly 15 years and boil it all down to a few highlights, but that is the task we’re faced with y’all. Imperfect as the selections may be, wrap your ears around “Romania” a song with strong undercurrents of national pride and financial independence through the underground economy which was their first mega-hit and took them from relatively obscurity into superstardom.

After that, peep more recent jams like “Garda” about corrupt police and the black market for drugs, “Ridica-Ma La Cer” about the difficulties of life in their neighborhood and the self-confidence/ambition it takes to rise above which also features a female R&B chorus relief, or my personal favorite “Exces Pervers” (take a guess).

BUG Mafia - Romania [mp3]
BUG Mafia - Garda [mp3]
BUG Mafia - Ridica-Ma La Cer [mp3]
BUG Mafia - Exces Pervers [mp3]

(Congratulations! You are now an elite member of an international conspiracy of music pirates, which the Recording Industry Association of America screeches about publicly while lining the pockets of politicians to prevent free competition.)

(Heh. Okay, relax. “Of the people who’ve so far been attacked by the music industry since 2003, not one has been found guilty of anything…” On the other hand, buying a physical CD legally could get you into trouble!)

BUG Mafia eventually went on to MTV fame and promoted new acts like cross-genre Paraziţii (literally, “The Parasites” - a sort of hip-hop meets acoustic guitar combination with highly politicized, intelligent lyrics and government-banned videos who remains one of the most popular groups in all of Romania) which in turn spawned independent spin-offs by artists like Cheloo.

Sample of Parazitii [mp3]
Sample of Cheloo [mp3]

Of course, there are other underground and former-underground groups. Even somewhat anonymous underground music, such as some folks at a advertising design firm who put together a parody of Manele music with lyrics about what it’s like to slave away for peanuts working on projects for silly clients who know nothing about design.

Manele Advertising Parody [mp3]

What’s that? You’re Romanian and know another underground musical scene worth detailing? Kewl! Email me or post a response to this!