The Phantom Father (2011/MVD Visual DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: C Main Program: B-
American
Professor Robert Traum (Marcel Iures) goes on leave to search for his family roots;
he journeys to the old world, Romania.
There, he is joined by Tanya (Mihaela
Sirbu), an archivist who decides help and join him, they follow the clues left
behind by his grandfather in letters and searches for a last living family
friend, Sami (Valer Delakeza), who is a cinema projectionist and has been kick
out by a greedy local mayor in order to build a shopping mall. As Robert helps Sami to get his theater back,
Sami tells Robert's past and legacy in Lucian Georgescu’s The Phantom Father (2011).
Robert is
touring the old world searching for his family roots, there a female archivist,
who joins him in order to get away from a persistent ex-husband/boyfriend (?)
to go on a trip into the past, exploring run downed Jewish communities and
cities. As they try to catch up with
Sami who is constantly moving around, they are followed and hounded by a
corrupt politician and his lackeys, but there is another secret twist that
involves the city, theater and more, though I will not ruin it here.
This was
an interesting story, a tale of man in search of his past, those who don't want
him to find it, and the man who still believes in movies with happy endings. It tells in the old world, how people's
wishes, dreams and hopes are either crushed or stolen by a greed few, usually
politicians or government officials. It
was one of those films where they showed you the end at the very beginning and
might sound a little like Cinema
Paradiso, but the flashback device is not too bad, though picture and sound
are not as good as that film.
- Ricky Chiang
