OPERATION THE MONSTER

"A film that is far from 'The Power and The Truth' (1972), far from 'The Actor and the Savages' (1975), but close and familiar to those who made it. And it represents them. It represents them because this comedy, more or less 'about fishermen', more or less a comedy, is a film about attitude. And attitude, or more precisely courage, is the hallmark of the collaboration between Titus Popovici and Manole Marcus."

"Calm. This is also the atmosphere of the film. Calm and endless patience that demands the calm and patience of the viewer. The comedy viewer, accustomed to being happily bombarded with gags, jokes, situations, and funny lines. Ready to "burst out laughing" no matter what provokes it. Which is not the case. With a few exceptions, "Operation The Monster" is not a laugh-out-loud comedy, but a smile-inducing one, and not always a very cheerful one, but rather a quiet one, with pursed lips, because, as someone very wise once said: "Who are you laughing at...?"

""Operation The Monster", as its authors intended: unpretentious in form, sharp in content."

The director of a company (Toma Caragiu), the deputy director (Octavian Cotescu), a civil servant (Marin Moraru), a writer (Ovidiu Schumacher), and their driver (Alexandru Manolescu) leave for the Danube Delta without their wives knowing. They have planned a big fishing trip: they intend to catch the much-coveted catfish, known as 'The Monster'. The trip feels like the beginning of a heist movie, with dark streets, syncopated 1970s jazz and, last but not least, the sober-playful figure of Caragiu, well known for his role in the B.D. series."

"The tension becomes evident as the hours pass and the boats remain empty of fish. Moreover, the competition between the director played by Caragiu and the deputy played by Cotescu becomes increasingly fierce."

"The opportunity to relax, to escape from everyday life, the film tells us, is delightful insofar as it freely reflects the dynamics of the adult world, but without the material facts and professionally agreed behavior. Marcus' film knows how to take the text and the actors' performances and combine them with playfulness within the confines of this space, although it does not necessarily do so with the exigency of optimal narrative rhythm. A similar and unsettling approach can be seen in "The Cruise" (1981, dir. Mircea Daneliuc), which is also about a vacation on the Danube, but where the leader's tyranny is so all-encompassing that enjoyment occurs either through subterfuge or not at all."