Two Lottery Tickets | MakingWaves

Two Lottery Tickets

Original title:

Paul Negoescu. 2017, Romania, 90 min

Original title: Două lozuri
Directed by Paul Negoescu
NEW YORK PREMIERE
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Three ne’er-do-wells from a provincial town hit the jackpot when they win the six-million Euro lottery prize only to find out that the winning ticket is, well, nowhere to be found. This is the beginning of a zany adventure as the trio sets off on a madcap hunt in search of the two wannabe gangsters who stole the bum bag containing the lucky scrap of paper. Paranoid potheads, would-be singers, exotic prostitutes, gullible children, enterprising clairvoyants, and even a colorblind policeman cross their paths, generating one hilarious set piece after another. With little resources and great craftsmanship, director Paul Negoescu has put together a refreshingly charming indie comedy, not without a serious undertow as it effortlessly explores issues such as corruption, poverty, and chance. The main cast, including Dogs′ lead Dragoș Bucur, is topnotch.

Preceded by audience favorite A Night in Tokoriki (Roxana Stroe, 18m), another comedy of errors, and winner of the Best Romanian Short at this year’s Transilvania International Film Festival.

Romania/Spain, 2016, 86m
Screenplay: Paul Negoescu
Cinematography: Ana Drăghici
Cast: Dorian Boguță, Dragoş Bucur, Alexandru Papadopol
Producer: Dragoş Bucur
Production company: Actoriedefilm
Co-producers: Papillon Film, Kirkland, Studio Indie Production
Festivals: Zurich Film Festival (Special Mention)
Romanian with English subtitles

Critics’ Corner

Cine-File: A new review of Nae Caranfil`s film (available online)

"DO NOT LEAN OUT THE WINDOW is a boisterous film that looks at the seismic shift in Romanian society with the cautious joy of a caged animal set free. It is a crucial precursor to the revelatory Romanian New Wave that should not be missed."

NY Times: Film Series to Catch in N.Y.C.

"In Romania, the democratic reforms that followed the execution of Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989 also turned the country into a global filmmaking powerhouse, culminating in what has been called the Romanian New Wave."

NYRB: J. Hoberman recommends

"These thirty films also include some of the best made anywhere during the past three decades."

MW public – Andrei Codrescu: “In Praise of New Romanian Film”

The New Wave festival returns to New York every year with astonishing new films, alongside a well-curated archive. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

J.B. Spins: “Luxury Hotel” – For fans of dystopian social satire

"Luxury Hotel could have probably only been produced during the immediate post-Ceausescu aftermath, when the palace was available, in all its faded grandeur. It is definitely spectacle, but serious, distinctively pointed spectacle."

Screenslate: “The Autobiography of N. Ceaușescu”- conceived as a flashback

"And now it is our turn, all these decades later, to be the ones to look and learn."

J.B. Spins: “The Oak” – Deeply compelling cinema

"The Oak is a defiantly bold, chaotically head-spinning indictment of Ceausescu Socialism, but it is also deeply compelling cinema. This is definitely auteurist cinema from Pintilie that still connects on a profoundly human level."

The Criterion Collection: Romanians… in America

"Film Forum will be showcasing thirty Romanian films made during the thirty years since the overthrow and execution of iron-fisted dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu."

„The Romanian New Wave shows no signs of waning, with steady input from such directors as Corneliu Porumboiu, Cristi Puiu, and Cristian Mungiu."

„The former communist country has emerged as a powerhouse of cinema over the last two decades and much has been made about the Romanian New Wave, a genre of naturalistic and unflinching films that have been consistently winning top prizes such as the Palme d’Or in Cannes and awards at the Berlin and Venice festivals.”

The New York Times

„In the last decade, the emergence of a Romanian new wave has been one of the most startling developments in world cinema, with one film after another winning prizes at Cannes and elsewhere.”

The Wall Street Journal

"Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema, the annual weeklong survey that has helped define and establish the southeastern European country as a stronghold of socially incisive, independently minded personal cinema.”

The Wall Street Journal

„Romania cinema has gradually become a central component of international film culture."