Ah, summer! The season of cinemas filled mostly with tales of natural disasters, werewolves, vampires, superheroes, fast cars, epic hangovers, and sappy love stories. With no new Romanian premieres or festivals these days, you'd be forced to go back to your DVD collection for meatier stuff.

Nae Caranfil is quite a favorite of mine, in case you haven't already noticed from the multitude of articles on his films. So let's have a look at another one of his pics, which also happens to be a lovely summery affair.

Restul e tăcere/The Rest Is Silence is an epic milestone in Romanian cinema, in every sense of the word. It's a lush homage to (silent) cinema, a historic document, an imaginative period film, and a delightful comedy. It's also the most expensive Romanian film of all time, with a stately budget of EUR 2.4 million.

Based on a true story, the film is a fictional story of the adventurous production of the 1912 long feature Romania's Independence, which staged the 1877 War of Independence against the Turks. Caranfil takes this real film as a basis for creating a great comic figure, namely the film's hapless hero, the clumsy and high-strung director Grig, as well for a bemused look as the movie industry and societal peculiarities of the era. As usual with Caranfil, the dialogue is sparkling with wit, the actors are great and the technical details are spot-on.

The Rest Is Silence lacks the bite and freshness of his earlier work and it's drenched in nostalgia but what it does add to Romanian cinema is its impressive scope and execution. In a landscape filled with social dramas it's great to see a perfectly made period piece. Don't skip this one, it's a beautiful, luscious 'blockbuster' in its own right.

You can find the DVD at the ever-reliable Cărturești stores and YouTube hosts the entire film in two parts, but without English subtitles. Enjoy the spectacle!

By Ioana Moldovan, columnist, ioana.moldovan@romania-insider.com