Ultimul Cartus aka The Last Bullet, by Titus Popovici - 7 out of 10

Ultimul Cartus aka The Last Bullet, by Titus Popovici
7 out of 10


Flawed as this movie is, it has been so popular, frequently quoted, part of 'culture' for those living here that it would deserve perhaps a better note, a praise, if not an homage.

Nevertheless, the director star of this and quite a few other productions of its kind was such an arrogant, preposterous, pompous individual, haunted by delusions of grandeur that even the good parts of the film become shadowed by the ghost of that overbearing figure.
Sergiu Nicolaescu maintained that the big names in Hollywood,  glorious directors have taken lessons from him, got inspired and then used techniques which he had invented!

In other words, forget Coppola, Scorsese, Spielberg!
Nicolaescu was their Godfather, Zeus!

With that knowledge it is hence hard to look at this and the other movies in this series, Cu Mainile Curate, for instance, with a nostalgic benevolence.
It is a pity, for in this film we have an actor who was really at the level of the best.

George Constantin was as good as Jack Nicholson.

The line:

'Nu trage dom' Semaca, sunt eu Lascarica!'

Has made history here and was used with every occasion.
And Semaca was George Constantin.

Alas, this giant has remained rather unknown outside the borders of the country, even if a theater company arrived from Moscow has been impressed by him.
And in this, we have a similarity with Jack Nicholson, who was noticed by Robert Evans, as he tells in his book, The Kid Stays in the Picture, even if The Irish did not even have a line, was not the one Evans was supposed to check upon.

In the same manner, when the great performers and people of the theatre from Moscow came, George Constantin did not have anything noticeable, except his majesty, reality distortion field, same as Steve Jobs.

Probably his presence, that of Ilarion Ciobanu and Amza Pellea make this film noteworthy.