Movies of the Week #31 (2025): Last(ish) Week at Ceau Cinema

Drowning Dry (2024): The only in-competition movie that I watched at Ceau Cinema (and which won nothing) was a real stand-out. A family drama, Laurynas Bareisa‘s movie uses structure to not only create suspense, but to bestow depth and meaning to what might otherwise have just been a straightforward affair. As two couples travel to a holiday destination, an unexpected event fundamentally changes their lives – but how that affects them, how it is perceived and how it is remembered varies from one protagonist to the other. As with most really good movies, you can choose what meaning it bears for you and I really saw it as a discourse on impunity: only few believe rare, often tragic, events can happen to them and once one does, the way you see the world changes at its core. All around well acted and carefully crafted, the worst that can be said about it is that it’s “slow” and “long”, and while I agree it could’ve been trimmed a bit, it has real staying power. 8

Films from Banat (2025): As per the Ceau Cinema’s tradition, there was a screening of a selection of short films connected to our local Banat area – either because they were shot here, or directed by people who were born here, or simply with participants from this area. Usually these are a bit of a mixed bag – proofs of concept, student projects and the occasional consecrated short. I’ll focus on what I liked here.
Firstly, On the Impossibility of an Homage (2024), by Xandra Popescu, which was nominated at Locarno and managed to whet my appetite for her 2025 Cannes winner Erogenesis. This one’s about a familiar, almost typical portrait of Ion Tugearu, a famed dancer and current choreographer who immediately proves, let’s say, pretentiously quirky. To the point of unmanageable? Regardless, the short sets the stage for what could obviously be an intriguing portrayal, which abruptly ends when Tugearu seems to refuse to relinquish control of what the narrative should be. It looks good, captivates and has an aftertaste, which is the most I’ve ever gotten out of a short. 8
Secondly, a series of themed shorts in honour of David Lynch. Doing a Lynch tribute is exciting, because there are so many facets of Lynch to explore, which is what students at the Vest University of Timisoara did. Sure, the results are rather imitative than anything else, but this goes to show how easily Lynch translates to personal experiences. Would’ve loved something less obvious, why not re: The Short Story, which is something typical of me, I guess. 7

My Uncle Jens (2025): Brwa Vahabpour’s feature debut tackles a very topical matter of migration. One rainy night in Norway, Akam’s uncle Khdr shows up at his doorstep unannounced, which would be inconvenient enough, if Akam even really knew his uncle. He doesn’t. It’s never clear what the latter’s intentions or plans are, but he quickly acclimatises himself to Akam’s (shared) apartment, even if he does appear to be culturally less adapted. The movie doesn’t belittle Khdr though, but it does contort itself to muster some suspense, making him seem the way we would maybe expect him to be. As the (back)story becomes apparent, I thought it conferred some almost unexpected weight to My Uncle Jens, as a portrait of belonging. It’s a shame that it goes for quick fixes in order to set up and resolve its plot, but all in all this proved a warm, endearing tale. 7

The Polish Dancer (1917): As part of the Ceau Cinema festival, which I’ll be writing about this week, I saw this silent Polish movie, starring Pola Negri – who, I’m told, is an important name of her times. It’s an age old story: young woman leaves home to make a name for herself on stage, married man falls for her, everything ends in tragedy. The movie was shown with live music, which made the experience more memorable, for otherwise, even in spite of some nuanced performances from Negri and Witold Kuncewicz, it’s not a movie that holds a lot of historical sway. Of course, you can watch it online today on that video platform. 6

The Quiet Son (2024): The Coulin sisters are back at it, and after tackling a mind-boggling pregnancy pact a while back, they are now settling on a simpler theme – a father worrying about his son’s fascist tendencies. This was the opening movie of the 2025 Ceau Cinema festival and it did manage to almost fill the 500-seater of Cinema Timiș, but it was not a particularly deserving movie. Sombre and heavy-handed, with the occasional preachy speech and the inevitable downward spiral, it’s not a redemption story, it’s a tragedy. The problem is that beyond the solid performances of the cast and decent visuals, there is little to hold you in this rather long movie that feels familiar and takes no risks. What frustrated me most, was that it dealt in generalities and stereotypes, instead of digging deeper and making this painfully personal. So while it kind of works as a social drama, it’s just not doing enough to warrant your time. 5