Romanian film review – Nasty & European Film Festival

The documentary Nasty is still touring cinemas across the country (and streaming on HBO) so if you are into tennis, or just fantastic spectacle, do not miss it. Similarly, if you are in Brașov or Chișinău in the following days, check out the European Film Festival.

Nasty is Ilie Năstase, the legendary, original ‘bad boy’ of tennis. Tudor Giurgiu, Tudor D. Popescu and Cristian Pascariu’s doc looks at the heyday of Năstase’s career in the 1970s, using an impressive amount of archive material, mostly of matches and interviews. An impressive, creative athlete, he won countless tournaments and rose to no. 1 in the ATP rankings in 1973. A good pun and really fitting, Nasty was apparently his nickname, and if you think it might be mean, his antics on the court will prove it was apt. He teases, provokes, shoves, screams, jumps, throws his racket, swears, all very dramatic stuff. Mostly tongue-in-cheek, but not always. But drama also sells, and the full stadiums at the time show it. The media attention too: he was hugely popular. By the way, his other nickname was "Bucharest buffoon" (interestingly, I don’t remember the film including this info). But temperament and stunts, however hilarious in their child-like mischief, never outshone Năstase's game, which was truly revolutionary. What they did do was undermined his success; trouble was always in the way. What is certain is that he played out of fun and love for the game, and it showed, often in his nothing-to-lose attitude.