Romanian Films
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Camera obscura (2016): Anachronistic Avantgarde
I do recommend Camera obscura, especially if you have an interest in film-making, because it provides some special moments along the way. It’s just unfortunate that a certain unwillingness to prod deeper and a lack of visionary discipline undermine it over the long run. Read more
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Afacerea Est: That’s How It’s Done (2016)
Cobileanski manages, at times, to really capture the irony and the foolishness of life in situational humour. Luckily, I was alone in the cinema and could laugh as hard as I felt like doing. Read more
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Pozitia Copilului (2013): People at its Heart
What sets Netzer’s film apart from some of the other recent Romanian works of cinema is its sardonic humor which works best when it’s aimed at the characters and not at some of the pervasive practices of society. Read more
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Sieranevada (2016): A Winter Wonderland
Sieranevada feels true. It’s a bit of a nightmare, sure, but it also manages to find and weave its story with quality fabric, highlighting meaningful contrasts between society, family and the individual and their ‘forced’ cohabitation. And it is ostensibly a universal story about the inner workings of family life. Read more
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Moartea domnului Lazarescu (2005): A Hellish Ride
God, I know it’s a terrible thing to say, but I really loved Moartea domnului Lazarescu (The Death of Mister Lazarescu). It was such an accomplished transition for Cristi Puiu, from his earlier works like the 2001 movie Marfa si banii (with the unappealing English title: Stuff and Dough) or his slice of life short Read more
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Cinema, mon amour (2015): Or Existential Limbo
One of my first writings here told a bit of the story on the run-down state of our own Cinema Timis. Cinema, mon amour tells a similar story from a humanistic angle, with a humble house of film in Piatra Neamt at its core. Read more
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Ilegitim (2016): A Difficult Tread
It’s rare that all the possible twists of a movie be so obvious just by looking at a poster. But Illegitimate still manages to make it work, in spite of its self-indulgence – it’s an entertaining story of how a family implodes. It simply fails to punch as high as it aims to do. Read more
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Autobiografia lui Nicolae Ceausescu (2010): The Spectacular Reality of Nicolae Ceausescu
It is unfathomable to think that this is a part of our human heritage, and the film leaves the impression of being a document of society, culture and politics that’s out of this world. Read more
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Bacalaureat (2016): Defying Compromise
Films rarely put forward leading characters that they then choose to vehemently punish throughout. But this is Mungiu, who has already proved more than adept at creating authentic and ruthless portrayals of society and in Bacalaureat (English title: Graduation) he scrapes at the edges of our souls. His tale of generational change is predicated on Read more
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Chuck Norris vs. Communism (2015): A Nostalgia Soufflé
In spite of being born towards the end of the 80s, I recall several “Margareta Nistor movies”, her trademark dubbing scarring my youth alongside the zombies of Return of the Living Dead. It’s funny, particularly because her often inflection-less voice made the humor of the movie much harder to understand at the time. Then again, Read more
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