Miscellaneous - Transylvania

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 22 / 3 / 2008

intro

'Transylvania', which Pennyblackmusic reviewed when it was released in the cinema last year, is an edgy road movie with a stunning gyspy folk soundtrack. Anthony Strutt looks at its new DVD release, which comes with various extras

'Transylvania', which was released in the cinema last year and has just come out on DVD, was directed by Tony Gatlif and stars Asia Argento. Reviewed by Pennyblackmusic last year, it tells of Zingarina (Asia Argento), who pregnant and rejected by her long lost lover, abandons the friends who have come with her to Romania to find him, and wanders across rural Transylvania where she meets Tchangalo (Birol Unel), a peddlar, who comes with her on a road trip. As well as having a stunning gypsy folk score, 'Transylvania' comes on DVD with various extras. These include 'The Making of...', a 22 minutes look at the making of the film which includes clips and rushes as they were filmed. It comes over that the crew and cast had a lot of fun making the film, even though it is very dark and very much not a date style movie. Highlights of this include Asia making friends with a mole, and dancing to the Strokes. There are two audio bonus tracks, 'Le Vent', which is sad and not sung in English and backed by minimal instruments, and 'Tchiki Tchiki,' which has more of a gyspy feel, is based around a violin and has a cheeky vocal. A question and answer session recorded at a French film festival features Tony Gatlif, and actress Amira Casar who plays one of Zingarina's friends, Maria. Tony says that he sees the film being about departure from what you know, while Amira adds that it was made without a script and it was all about forms, colours, music and lines.

Picture Gallery:-