He was one of the critics who published praising chronics for the Romanian fill "If I want to whistle, i whistle", immediate after the Berlin Festival. He writes constantly for American magazine Variety about Romanian movies. He's not only in-the-know, but also an admirer of the new generation of Romanian film makers. Interviewed by HotNews.ro reporter Iulia Blaga over the phone, Jay Weissberg said he was expecting Florin Serban's film to win something at the festival, but not the Golden Bear. He believes that the Romanian cinematography might just stay on top of the wave for a long time.
Reporter: Why did you like "If I want to whistle, i whistle"?
Jay Weissberg:I liked it because it looked completely unpretentious, which I believe is the signature of many Romanian film-makers from the last generation, but he deserves the word especially because I had the impression that he was not trying to address an important event, but focused on a specific moment. I also enjoyed the sense of dialogue, especially that the film is based on a theatre play. I believe that the director knew very well which elements to take out to avoid making it theatrical. The film has a very strong central scene - the one in which the hero is visited in prison by his mother and brother. This is a very, very strong scene.
Jay Weissberg disclosed that he was not expecting the film to get the golden bear. He said he had not seen all the competing films by the time he saw this one and it has been an average year in terms of productions and nobody was satisfied with the festival this year. He says that "If I want to whistle, I whistle" had become the critics' favourite also because there were not many films from which one could choose. He missed the Russian film, which was appreciated, as well as "The Ball", which was awarded the supreme trophy. According to Jay Weissberg, the Ge
