Mrs. Buică (2023): We first meet Mr. and Mrs. Buică in 1998, as they return to Romania from their adoptive home in the United States. The occasion is the wedding of one of their sons, George, while the other, Eugene, documents the event. It doesn’t take long for the jabs between spouses to go from playful to toxic, as the wife casually confronts her husband over his purported numerous infidelities, while the husband swats them away as womanly exaggerations. It’s a pattern that repeats itself throughout the movie, even as years go by, and some scenes are light and breezy and empathetic, while others are daunting to watch. Ultimately, the ambiguity of being a flawed human specimen shines through Mrs. Buică (the movie). And the fragmentation of the soul is bared through Mrs. Buică (the protagonist). The movie embraces it all, sometimes coming uncomfortably close to a kind of interpersonal exploitation, but it is between these lines of what is acceptable and what is uncomfortable that Eugene Buică’s family tale makes its stand. Full review here. 8
Federer: Twelve Final Days (2024): As a Rafa fan, it was my duty for many years to throw shade Roger’s way. I think I did my job well. Seeing the last match they played together, I was naturally in tears as much as they were. Very hard not to feel the moment and not to project. There’s a bit of that captured here, but otherwise, this is not a very Asif Kapadia film. It adds very little to what we know, saw and felt happened in 2022, which doesn’t make this unwatchable, just not terribly exciting. I guess we’ll have to wait for the Rafa v Roger documentary, whenever that comes. 6
Wicked Little Letters (2023): It’s hard to go fundamentally wrong when you have a cast as talented the one Thea Sharrock has here, with Jessie Buckley, Olivia Coleman and Timothy Spall leading the rest. Yet, Wicked Little Letters, with is quaint story of disorderly conduct, is mostly lacklustre. It only really comes alive towards the end, when the story comes full circle, with Coleman, as expected, the one who really puts the “wicked” in WLL. So it’s all fine and proper, but not very exciting, similarly to Sharrock’s Beautiful Game. 6
Hannah Einbinder: Everything Must Go (2024): I guess most people know Hannah, as I do, from the show Hacks, where she plays an aspiring comedy writer to an ageing comedy legend. In this HBO special, she takes to the stage herself in a performance…that takes some getting used to. Her rhythm is peculiar, her stories meandering, and the jokes subtle to the point of non-existence. There are some segments that work well and it’s a good change of space to see a different approach to the familiar stand-up routine, but the material is on the slight side. I’ll take it as a somewhat subversive approach to a different brand of comedy, but it’s definitely not everyone’s taste. 6
Avram Iancu Împotriva Imperiului (2024): The first Romanian docu-drama, an independently financed film about the 19th century lawyer and revolutionary Avram Iancu, written and directed by Theo Thorn, offers a mixture of re-enactments and history lesson. Or at least that’s what you’re in for, if you crave to get those nationalistic juices flowing, because beyond the dramatic patriotism, there’s little that the movie has to offer. A decent performance from the lead, Horia Fedorca, makes up for the wooden delivery by most of the cast, presumably amateurs to some degree, but it’s hard to salvage a script that’s only rife with pathos and not much else. The movie also has a decent look and costumes, so that makes it easy on the eye for its one hour runtime. Overall, though, really not something worth passing the time with, unless you’re an incurably curious person, as I am. 4
tributary stu 