Rory writes:
"Rereading my post it seems I imply that I speak Romanian - I don't. Thanks for the clarification - is the title then playing on the fact that film concerns a fairly ridiculous piece of detective work?"
I don't think the title means a single thing; it's playing on a lot of stuff. Allowing for all those possibilities relates to the issue of power and language that you bring up. And, yes, it's definitely alluding to "detective work."
"But on your second point I absolutely agree: it seems to me that many of the films you mentioned (at least the ones I've seen), obliquely or otherwise, reflect on the continuities between Ceausescu's regime and today's, all refracted through a neo-realist heritage, but with specifically local inflection - in particular an intense concern with the ways language reproduces power relationships."
Yes. Definitely. The "revolution" was the ousting of one slice of the ruling elite. The rest are still in the saddle. I am actually amazed and irrationally proud of the films coming out of Romania.
"Interestingly, my favourite young director, Jia Zhangke, has spoken about the influence Bicycle Thieves had on his work. The influence is particularly apparent in his first film Xiao Wu, which is classically neo-realist."
I don't speak Chinese. Is there an English title for that movie?
Thanks,
Joanna