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asturbana
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Re: Romulus My Father
Romulus, My Father
Romulus, My Father (2007) can be described in three words; beautiful, tragic and heartbreaking.
This is not to say it is a simple film, rather, its beauty and emotive essence are what makes this film stand out. Based on Raimond Gaita’s critically acclaimed memoir, Romulus, My Father tells the compelling story of Romulus (Eric Bana), his beautiful wife Christina (Franka Potente), and their struggle in the face of great adversity to bring up their son, Raimond (Kodi Smit – McPhee).
Set against the backdrop of post war Australia the film is the story of a young boy trying to make sense of the relationships around him. His father, Romulus, is a deeply moral man constantly striving to teach his son the best way to be in the world. This morality is threatened by his mother’s mental fragility and depressive personality. Romulus, My Father is a journey through the pain of unrequited love and ultimately a relationship between father and son.
The story is told through Raimon’s eyes and Roxburgh expertly captures the innocence and confusion of a child trying to make sense of the chaotic adult world around him. The film can feel quite fragmented as the story doesn’t flow in a conventional narrative, instead, the story of Romulus is revealed through a series of Raimon’s memories of his father. Roxburgh did not have an easy task in trying to convey another man’s childhood memories from written word onto the screen. He succeeds by depicting emotion through the rugged landscape of rural Victoria and using a sepia filter to cast a nostalgic feel the photography.
Perhaps one of the strongest points of this film was the outstanding performances from the cast. Eric Bana encapsulates the pain and battle of Romulus’s relationship with wife Christina with such ferocity it was hard not to hurt with him. Kobi Smit-McPhee’s Raimon is both captivating and charming; I was blown away with the young actor’s ability.
I highly recommend seeing this film; make sure you take tissues though!
source: http://www.thread.co.nz/article/2721
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8/19/2007, 11:13 am
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asturbana
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Re: Romulus My Father
http://www.tiff07.ca/filmsandschedules/visascreeningroom/sept12.aspx
RMF in the festival of Toronto
Last edited by asturbana, 8/22/2007, 8:21 pm
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8/22/2007, 8:20 pm
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asturbana
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Re: Romulus My Father
About Romulus My Father
Romulus, My Father is set in rural Victoria and concerns a family which has migrated from Yugoslavia.
The Home Song Stories is set in suburban Melbourne and follows the plight of a woman who leaves behind her life as a nightclub singer in Shanghai to follow her husband to Melbourne.
The cinematography is different – one has wide-open shots of a harsh landscape while the other is close-ups of inner city life. Even the food is different. The Home Song Stories has plenty of feasts consumed with chopsticks while the most memorable meal of the other film happens when an old tramp cooks up a couple of boiled eggs in his billy, using urine instead of water in a cooking tip that The Naked Chef seems to have missed.
One similarity that both films enjoy is in the power of the performances. In the one film, Eric Bana's soulful eyes are suitably heart-wrenching, while Franka Potente is convincing as the troubled mother. In the other film, Joan Chen gives an amazingly powerful performance as a woman who can be controlling through the power of her sensuality and also helpless through the flaws of her character.
source: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22294614-5003420,00.html
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8/24/2007, 2:48 pm
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asturbana
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Re: Romulus My Father
Toronto festival
http://www.arclightfilms.com/newsletters/2007/toronto/index.htm
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9/2/2007, 8:04 pm
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asturbana
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Re: Romulus My Father
Thanks for the info Tigger Do you go to Festival sister? Who live in Canada for see Eric. Now Eric is in Toronto shoot TTTW.
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9/5/2007, 4:43 pm
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asturbana
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Re: Romulus My Father
Eric Bana shines in 'Romulus, My Father'Updated Thu. Sep. 13 2007 1:18 PM ET
Constance Droganes
There's a lot to be learned, especially in today's culture, about the spirit of dedicated, loving parenting in the new film "Romulus, My Father."
Based on Raimond Gaita's critically acclaimed memoir, Australian star Eric Bana gives a tour de force performance as Romulus, an uneducated yet deeply moral man who flees his home in Yugoslavia at the age of 13. After the end of World War II, he moves to Australia with his young wife (Franka Potente) and four-year-old son determined to build a better life. Yet along the way,
personal tragedy and hardships plague the struggling, working-class immigrants.
Hope conquers adversity
In an era where most "newcomer" Europeans to Australia experienced resentment and condescension from that country's citizens, Raimond's father fights on, taking whatever work he can as an iron craftsman to feed his family and give his son the education he never received.
Abandoning his education at the primary school level, the sole joy for this stoic, indomitable figure is to help his son with whatever means he has to acquire a love of learning and a better future as a result of it.
Yet as the young Raimond shows us, Romulus teaches him something even more important: to never give up hope.
The bright boy watches on as his father withstands life's many pressures and injustices. With childlike clarity he sees his father cope with his wife's depression, trying to make sense of this mental illness during a time when little discussion or treatment of the disease existed.
A legacy to treasure
Marrying the sweeping allure of the Australian countryside with moments of quiet, intimate tenderness, it is with wistful longing that director Richard Roxburgh recounts Raimond's younger days with his beloved father and mother.
It's there in the way Raimond watches his parents dance together and hold hands. It's there in the deep stillness colouring Bana's brown eyes that conveys a world of suppressed emotions.
It's also there as the audience, like Raimond, watches Romulus endure extraordinary hardships, both emotional and physical, for years on end.
The real gift in the movie "Romulus, My Father," is that the audience, no matter the creed, colour or faith of the people that comprise it, is deeply touched by the legacy that this remarkable father leaves for his cherished son: to live without bitterness and to never give up hope.
Source: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070913/ENT_tiff_ROMULUS_080911/20070913?s_name=tiff2007
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9/13/2007, 7:58 pm
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asturbana
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Re: Romulus My Father
source:http://www.cinematical.com/2007/09/17/tiff-review-romulus-my-father/
Simple and understated, Romulus, My Father begins with Romulus Gaita (Eric Bana) and his son, Raimond (Kodi Smit-McPhee). A light bulb sways in the black of night, and the father attempts to teach his son about life. He is holding a handful of still and lifeless wasps. As the warmth of the light passes over them, they stir, and he brings the insects back to life in front of the amazed eyes of Raimond. The lesson is simple: with warmth, life will thrive. It is an ideal that the elder Gaita models his life upon, and while it continues to fail him in his own life, he is fueled by Raimond taking the lesson to heart.
Coming from Raimond Gaita's noted memoir, Romulus, My Father follows the writer's young life in 1960's Australia. His family has emigrated from Eastern Europe, and now find their life divided. Father and son live alone in the country, receiving only sporadic visits from unreliable wife and mother Christina (Franka Potente). Romulus allows this because he loves Christina, and believes that she needs him. Raimond is an ideal kid, one who remains optimistic and loving in the shadow of his mother's absence. It is, however, an optimism that is continually challenged as his father is beaten by the hardships that life hurls at him time and time again.
Christina lives in the city with Romulus' previous friend, Mitru (Russell Dykstra), who also happens to be his best and always-helpful friend Hora's (Marton Csokas) brother. It becomes immediately clear that she has no interest in being a mother. She obviously loves her son, and shows him affection, but it is at her whim. She chooses to delight in those happy stolen moments, rather than being there through thick and thin. Through her whirlwind visits, she pops up, spends time with Raimond, sleeps with Romulus, and then disappears. Things change, however, when she gets pregnant with Mitru's baby. Christina falls apart when she is once again faced with what she ran away from, the string that was holding Romulus together begins to unravel, and Raimond's life suffers from the strain.
It's an incredibly slow-paced film that relies on the strength of its actors to thrive. While this makes it too much of a sleeper to live up to all of its potential, Richard Roxburgh has pulled solid performances out of each of them. I've never been so impressed with Eric Bana's work -- you can feel his love, as well as his anguish, which is almost always expressed through his face and actions, not exposition. Smit-McPhee is also wonderful as Raimond, who pulls on your heart-strings with his eternal optimism, helpfulness, and love. And then there is Franka Potente, who gives a powerfully understated performance.
Some have said that Christina is driven insane, but it seems more like she suffered from a mixture of cultural obligation and post-partum depression, than insanity. She tells Raimond how Romulus chased her, so utterly in love with her, and tried to kill himself when he thought he wouldn't get her -- but it is not this act that is chilling, it is how funny she thinks it is. Essentially, she wants to live a carefree life -- be her own woman, one who can delight in the company of a financially-secure man and have few worries. When she has this with Mitru, she is happy. But once she gets pregnant, and her life becomes familial once again, she falls apart.
For the most part, Roxburgh's debut as a director is thoughtful, but it does suffer from the slow and rolling pace, which keeps it in a sort of cinematic limbo -- not good and not bad -- just there. For the most part, it exists like a passive look into Gaita's challenging young life. There is, however, one scene with Romulus' chickens that seems jarring and pointless -- while it might be part of the writer's memories, within the realm of the film it sticks out like a violent, sore thumb. Otherwise, Romulus, My Father is a decent film that just is, without being wow-worthy or notably disappointing
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9/18/2007, 10:19 am
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We hope brenn or BanaHungry can go the festival and can meet with Eric and did a lot pictures. 
Cross my fingers for both. 