Bani Negri / Tuff Money

Main character: Doru and Ionel
Country of origin: Romania
Main location: Piatra Neamț, other locations in Romania

Creator: Daniel Sandu
Born in: Piatra Neamț
Born on: 16 December 1977
Nationality: Romanian

Television series started in: 2020
Producer: HBO Europe, Mobra Films
Number of seasons: 1
Latest season broadcast: 2020
Transnational distribution: Yes (via HBO services in Europe)

Case study rationale:

Tuff Money is the first original production made by HBO Romania (besides Hackerville, which was a co-production with TNT Germany), obtaining considerable success thanks to the strong depiction of the characters and an original visual style. The series investigates one of the strongest affirmations regarding Romanian society, namely its systematic corruption. The series narrates the story of a bank robbery, focusing in particular on the personality of the two robbers. Doru and Ionel, two traffic light technicians, have a laugh about manipulating traffic to rob a bank’s armored van but, when their plan is taken at face value by a mobster, they end up having to go through with it. All the institutions they turn to for help show themselves eager to make the heist happen and take a cut. Doru and Ionel, then, are represented as more reliable and trustworthy than the representatives of important civic institutions (policemen, bank CEOs, priests, journalists, mayors etc.). By mixing thriller and comedy, the series deals with issues of everyday morality about a so-called “Balkanian” lifestyle with a rather comic and ironic approach. Interestingly enough, as soon as the series aired, HBO launched a social scientific experiment called the “Stoplight of morality”, devoted to investigate the moral convictions of Romanian society.

Online research resources

Watch

Romanian teaser of the TV series [in Romanian]:

Czech teaser of the TV series [in Czech]:

Browse

The social experiment “Stoplight of Morality” conducted by HBO in Romania 

The official page of Tuff Money on HBO Europe website

Read

• Barraclough, Leo. “HBO Europe Greenlights Crime Caper ‘Tuff Money’ From Cristian Mungiu’s Mobra Films”. Variety.com, 23 July 2019.
• Dobrescu, Caius, Roxana Eichel. “Transylvanian Location Aesthetics and Policies”. Deliverable 4.1 Location Marketing and Cultural Tourism. Crime Narratives as Destination Branding. Ed. Cahtrin Bengesser, Kim Toft Hansen , Lynge Stegger Gemzøe, 2019. 29-36.
• Hansen, Kim Toft, Anna Keszeg and Sándor Kálai. ” From Remade Drama to Original Crime – HBO Europe’s Original Television Productions”. European Review (2020): 1-17.
• Musat, Laura. “An interview with Alexandru Papadopol & Cristian Bota, on Tuff Money – HBO’s new series”. Filmsinframe.com, 26 November 2020.

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