22/01/2024 - The drama film tells the story of a man who reconnects with a long-lost love after he dies and goes to heaven

After directing two features focusing on teenagers and children (Happy End in 2006 and Summer’s Over in 2016) and a mainstream comedy (The In-Laws in 2014), Romanian director Radu Potcoavă abruptly switches gear with his fourth feature, Good Guys Go to Heaven [+see also:
film review
film profile]. The film is being staged by Wearebasca, with Claudiu Mitcu, Ioachim Stroe and Robert Fiţa serving as producers, while Viorel Chesaru co-produces through Chainsaw Europe.

The screenplay, written by Potcoavă, follows Dan (Bogdan Dumitrache), a 41-year-old who dies in a car crash. He goes to heaven, which seems to be located on a deserted beach, with perfect weather and a cold beer always within reach. Soon, Dan discovers he is not alone, as Laura (Cosmina Stratan), the girl he fell in love with at secondary school, is also here. And what if Dan now has the opportunity to right mistakes from the past?

The €200,000 project was made without any funds from the Romanian National Film Center. The film was shot over 13 days in Bucharest and near the Bulgarian village of Krapets, on the shore of the Black Sea, the same place where producer Ioachim Stroe shot his debut feature, Camping (see the news). Andrei Butică is the film’s DoP, and Ilinca Sava, Florentina Ţilea, Şerban Pavlu, Sergiu Costache and Liviu Pintileasa play supporting characters. Interestingly, Pavlu plays a very approachable God, which makes Good Guys Go to Heaven the first Romanian film, as far as we know, where God shows up as a character.

Producer Claudiu Mitcu tells Cineuropa that, from a production point of view, the biggest challenge was finding a truly deserted beach. “We didn’t find one in Romania, and not for the lack of trying, so we went to Krapets, in Bulgaria. And it was worth it: that beach truly looks amazing in the film,” the producer explains.

The director says he was stirred to write the screenplay after a good friend of his father’s suddenly died from a heart attack. Potcoavă says he wants his film to invite the audience to slow down. “I wanted to make us halt our daily scurrying, to make us stop getting lost among so many insignificant little things and actions, which eventually make us lose sight of what is truly important. And, even if it might sound counterintuitive, to take things less seriously. Life is a joke, and who knows? Maybe death is a joke, too,” Potcoavă says.

Forum Film, the official Romanian distributor of Disney features, will release Good Guys Go to Heaven at the end of March. The Open Reel is handling the film internationally.