Trop tard (1996) Too Late

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Trop tard (1996) Too Late

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Trop tard (1996) Too Late

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Lucian Pintilie's film is an exploration of the life of the miners disguised as a thriller. The events of the infamous "mineriada" - when in June 1990 miners attacked peaceful protesters in Bucharest and have been thanked by Romanian president Iliescu - are not the main focus of the film but they do provide a background as well as a starting point for the film. Pintilie does not try to excuse the behavior of the miners but he does try to see what makes people behave in such an appalling way.

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Trop tard (1996) Too Late

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His alter ego in the film is the investigator, a young and inexperienced Dumitru Costa brilliantly portrayed by Razvan Vasilescu who tries to uncover crimes committed in the mine and discovers a myriad of corruption. This allows Pintilie to show the difficult, often dehumanizing life of the miners. The film is full with unforgettable grim images such as the scene of a dead body coming in a conveyor belt. While being critical to the behavior of the miners, Pintilie also shows a remarkable sympathy for those who work in such difficult conditions. But do the victims of the "mineriada" agree? Nonetheless Pintilie makes clear that there is no hope for life and even the idealistic investigator ultimately chooses the way of exile.
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Trop tard (1996) Too Late

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I've seen the movie long ago, however, few days ago (and it's late sept 2004) something reminded me of it. Doesn't matter much, local politics… Still, Pintilie went beyond the art-fancy-sophisticated movie maker style he had so well embraced before. In "prea tirziu" he shows a brutal reality, a strange kind of reactions, bad persons, bad relations, bad values (if there is such a thing), bad everything… And he shows it in a good way. Watch it closely, even though you are not accustomed to the Romanian style, observe some people that exist - of course, not that dramatically, but still - and think that this can happen today, somewhere not far from us.

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Trop tard (1996) Too Late

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It's not Romania, it's not the real stuff, but it's about some people that exist. Somehow, this drama is a comedy. And I definitely suggest you to watch it. You won't regret it.
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Trop tard (1996) Too Late

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Romanian director Lucian Pintilie's film "Trop Tard" starts in Germany with three young violin players and ends in Romania.We are shown that these talented musicians cannot bathe themselves due to acute water shortage as taps run dry.This is something which normally happens in third world countries but some communist countries of Europe are no exception to this rule.In some of these early scenes, there is a real sense of constant movement,a desire to escape bitter,harsh realities of Romania.This feeling of evasion is very much evident throughout the entire film.

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Trop tard (1996) Too Late

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In Prea târziu,(Trop Tard/Too late)Lucian Pintilié exposes miserable plight of hapless miners who are at the mercy of corrupt mining officials.Too late is also a story about guilty conscience.It is more of an exposé about corruption than being a detective story involving a public prosecutor who is determined to solve a difficult case of two dead miners.Pintilié tells us that it is too late for some communist societies as things should have been corrected a long time ago.The film send us a message that there is an imminent need to change the ways a communist society functions.

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Trop tard (1996) Too Late

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Special Features:
- Préface de Michel Ciment (04:19, in French only)
- La leçon de cinéma de Lucian Pintilie (13:44, in French only)
- La collection Pintilie