Cornelui Porumboiu's The Treasure tells the story of Costi, a husband and father, who lives a modest life in Romania. His son loves Robin Hood, and nearly every night Costi reads him bed time stories to help him sleep. One evening, a neighbor of Costi's arrives at his door asking him for help. The man tells Costi that he believes there is a treasure buried in his grandparent's garden, asking Costi to help him pay for the metal detector and labor to help him locate it. Skeptical at first, Costi agrees to help when he is promised half of the potential profits, setting them of an adventure that has the potential to change both of their lives forever. For those not familiar with Cornelui Porumboiu's films, they offer a singular vision, with an unbelievably dry sense of humor that coupled with methodical direction makes The Treasure a nice little treat. Everything in this film is very subtle, from the humor to the problems that arise, and as the narrative progresses Costi runs into many obstacles, though his inherent optimism never wavers. I think the films optimism is one of the most endearing qualities of The Treasure, as a lot of obstacles arise, from the police, to things his neighbor forgot to mention, all of which threaten to derail Costi's dreams, though he never wavers. Perhaps the greatest example of this is when Costi comes home with the discovered Mercedes shares, which are bound to make him a lot of money. His young son doesn't comprehend how this is treasure at all, and even when in a later scene Costi realizes his share of the earning isn't going to be as big as expected, the first thing he does is go purchase a large amount of jewelry to share the treasure with his son in a way the young boy can understand. The Treasure is a narrative that could easily have been told with much more pessimism, and that is the beauty of this film, as even though it is full of struggles and setbacks that never feels that way whatsoever, thanks to the optimism of the lead protagonist and by proxy filmmaker.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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