HELLO, GREATGRANNY IS LANDING!… (1981) – comedy film online

Directed by: Nicolae Corjos
Script by: Rodica Padina
Cast: Sebastian Papaiani, Mimi Enăceanu, Adela Mărculescu, Tamara Buciuceanu-Botez, Ileana Stana Ionescu, Adina Popescu, Nicu Constantin, Coca Andronescu, Julieta Szönyi, Bogdan Carp, Alexandru Ciobanu, Oana Bădănoiu, Obren Păunovici, Adriana Piteșteanu
Producer: Sanda Mănescu, Marin Theodorescu
Cinematography by: Mihai Popescu
Edited by: Mioara Ionescu
Sound: Mihai Orășanu
Music: Florin Bogardo
Year: 1981
Category: Feature film
Genre: Comedy
Duration: 92 minutes

PLOT SUMMARY

The marital crisis between Romeo (Sebastian Papaiani) and Julieta Ionescu (Adela Mărculescu) could easily end in separation. Romeo files for divorce, with his mother (Ileana Stana Ionescu) on his side. His wife, their three children, and, last but not least, his great-grandmother (Mimi Enăceanu) join forces against him.

AWARDS:

• 1981 – ACIN – Honorary Diploma (Mimi Enăceanu)

CRITICAL REVIEWS:

“A rich subject for comedy — necessarily crude? — that is the question if you still feel like engaging in critical speculation at 36° Celsius, at home, under the blinds. And if you were to launch yourself in cooler weather, would the arguments be more lively, less liquefied than in this numb season for Bucharest theaters, enlivened only by coastal and mountain premieres?” – Alice Mănoiu, “Cinema” magazine, no. 7, July 1981

“A family drama resolved by a comic character, obviously using the means of comedy. Making light of misfortune, with verve and intelligence, and taking the situation to the point of parodic exaggeration — an exaggeration that makes the person in question aware of his ridiculousness: the somewhat autumnal husband with the pretensions of a young man. The great-grandmother works admirably as a detonator of comic verve, an explosion led with directorial and interpretative inventiveness to the finish line: the subduing of the unfaithful husband.” – Alice Mănoiu, “Almanah Cinema”, 1987

“Inspired by the film’s ‘covers’ (thanks in part to the imagination of cinematographer Mihai Popescu), Nicolae Corjos conceived a comic ending in two versions, leaving the door open for a sequel that never came: ‘I will never forget how [Mimi Enăceanu] laid the groundwork for the so-called second series, how we constructed the plot, how we sketched the characters, thinking about the humor of the comedy, but also about the educational aspect.” Everything remained a project, an unfulfilled dream.” – Dinu-Ioan Nicula, cinepub.ro

“The conventional happy ending is the safe solution for the series to continue with other generations of students, with interest remaining in “The Graduates” (1986), in which the artifice of the construction is less strident when viewed today, while “Test Paper” (1987) and “Rock ‘n’ Roll Graduates” (1991) are just the last titles in the filmography of a director who has fallen into oblivion, but who survives in the emotional memory of viewers from the 1980s: the quasi-retired “decree children” through the teen movie, and their long-lived parents through the comedy “Hello, Greatgranny is Landing!…” – Dinu-Ioan Nicula, cinepub.ro

TRIVIA:

• Nicolae Corjos was born on May 22, 1935, in Hotin (Bukovina, now Ukraine). He graduated from the Ion Luca Caragiale National Academy of Theatre and Cinematography in Bucharest in 1956.
• Before becoming a director, he worked for many years as an assistant director and second director, collaborating with important filmmakers such as Malvina Urșianu, Mircea Mureșan, Sergiu Nicolaescu, and Lucian Pintilie.
• He made his debut as a feature film director in 1979 with the film Ora zero (Zero Hour). “Hello, Greatgranny is Landing!…” (1981) is part of the first stage of his filmography as a director.
• He is the author of some of the most popular Romanian films of the 1980s, such as “Confessions of Love” and “The Graduates“, which became true cultural phenomena.
• He received the Romanian Filmmakers’ Union Award for the film “The Graduates” (1986).
• He was a member of the National Audiovisual Council between 1995 and 2001.
• He was an associate professor at UNATC and a professor at Hyperion University (1990–2009).
• He obtained his doctorate in music in 2000, with the thesis “The Art of Music – Component and Aureole of Audiovisual Media.”
• He was a member of the Romanian Filmmakers’ Union.
• The screenplay was written by novelist Rodica Padina. The writer later novelized the film, publishing a volume in 1989 that contained the novels “From Thursday to Sunday” and “Hello, Greatgranny is Landing!…” in a single volume with the novel (Ed. Eminescu, Bucharest, 1989, Rampa Collection, 164 p.).
• The film was made in the studios of the Bucharest Film Production Center. Filming was carried out with the support of the General Inspectorate of the Militia, with Domide Perciun as consultant.
• The disco scene was filmed at Mozaic Melody in Bucharest, with Sergiu Cucu Toma and Valentin Ene as presenters.
• Actress Mimi Enăceanu was awarded an honorary diploma from the Romanian Filmmakers Association (ACIN) in 1981 for her role in this film.
• Nicolae Corjos died in 2023.

LINES:

 • “I have a mother, I have a grandmother.” – Romeo (Sebastian Papaiani)
• “What, you have a grandmother at your age? She must be senile…” – Miky (Adina Popescu)
• “You have principles? You’re a bit old-fashioned. Don’t say you don’t like me. At your age… and with my face…” – Miky (Adina Popescu)
• “His wife is a telephone operator!” – Miky (Adina Popescu)
• “What kind of coffee is this? Go and heat it up again!” – Romeo (Sebastian Papaiani)
• “Juliet, you didn’t even comb your hair for me! You’re so selfish!” – Romeo (Sebastian Papaiani)
• “A woman doesn’t look for a fight if she doesn’t have backup.” – Romeo’s mother (Ileana Stana Ionescu)
• “I only work with single, powerful men!” – Lady Maria (Tamara Buciuceanu)
• “Dad sleeps with his mouth open. Want to bet he eats in his sleep?” – Romeo’s son (Bogdan Carp)
• “My sick leave pay isn’t enough for Kent cigarettes. So I decided to become a nanny.” – Young job applicant (Juliera Szönyi)
• “I’m from the countryside. We only eat chickens that have been strangled by a man’s hand.” – Lady Maria (Tamara Buciuceanu)
• “Are you crying? Crying is forbidden!” – Great-grandmother (Mimi Enăceanu)
• “Come home, I don’t know how to…” – Romeo (Sebastian Papaiani)
• “Mother, I’m a grown man, I’m 40 years old!” – Romeo (Sebastian Papaiani)
• “Which one of you knows how old Sophocles was when he died? He was 92. And at 75, my age, he wrote ‘Oedipus Rex’.” – Great-grandmother (Mimi Enăceanu)
• “If Tolstoy could write masterpieces at 82, then can’t I sign a damn statement at 75?” – Great-grandmother (Mimi Enăceanu)

ARTICLES:

• Big names in “Hello, Greatgranny is Landing!…” – adevarul.ro
• Review: “Hello, Greatgranny is Landing!…”, by Alice Mănoiu – aarc.ro
• Nicolae Corjos, director of a cinematic phenomenon of the 1980s – adevarul.ro

This premiere is part of a national archive project supported by the Romanian National Film Centre.
Special thanks goes to the Romanian Filmmakers Union and to the Romanian Film Archive.

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