Focused on a director and his leading actress while they are off the set. They discuss the discrepancies between film and digital cinema, Western and Eastern food, and try to capture an unfiltered (and seemingly impossible) sense of “reality” on film.
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The story: Cornelia, a middle-aged high society architect, is informed by her sister-in-law that her son Barbu has killed a child in a traffic accident, and both immediately proceed to the police station where he is being held for questioning. They barge into the interrogation, all the while phoning useful contacts, and manage to change Barbu’s statement, after which they take him back to his parent’s house. In the following days, Cornelia develops various schemes to get Barbu off the hook of a trial, receiving unexpected support from Barbu’s wife (or girl-friend) Carmen, even though they thoroughly hate each other.
The accident itself is not the main story. It serves as a backdrop for highlighting the blatant disregard of the rich for the poor, the pervasiveness of corruption in Romanian society, and to illustrate how possessive and self-serving Cornelia is. Most screen time is devoted to Barbu’s ‘cutting of the post-natal umbilical cord’, his sometimes desperate, mostly half-hearted attempts to gain independence from his overprotective mother. Continue reading
Synopsis:
One romanian newsman attempts to put his nation’s revolution on the air after the fact in this satiric comedy from writer and director Corneliu Porumboiu. It’s the sixteenth anniversary of the revolt that removed Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu from power in Romania, and Jderescu (Ion Sapdaru) is the host of a televised public affairs show who wants to do a special program on the revolution. Jderescu’s idea is to bring on a handful of ordinary citizens to discuss their role in Ceausescu’s overthrow and how their lives have changed since Communist rule was swept from Romania. However, Jderescu can only round up two guests for his broadcast — elderly Piscoci (Mircea Andreescu), who’s more interested in playing Santa Claus for the neighborhood kids than talking politics, and Manescu (Teo Corban), a schoolteacher nursing a brutal hangover. As Jderescu tries to lead a serious discussion of how Romania has changed since Ceausescu was driven from power, the conversation wanders off on a tangent about where the revolution actually took place, and the waters become even more muddied when Jderescu opens up the phone lines for questions from viewers, most of whom have their own distinct (and strongly conflicting) memories of the Revolution . . . (allmovie) Continue reading
Otilia and Gabita share the same room in a student dormitory. They are colleagues at the University in this small town in Romania, during the last years of communism. Otilia rents a room in a cheap hotel. In the afternoon, they are going to meet a certain Mr. Bebe. Gabita is pregnant, abortion is illegal and neither of them have passed through something like this before.
4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS & 2 DAYS 3 weeks & 2 days belongs to a larger project called: Tales from the Golden Age – a subjective history of communism in Romania told through its urban legends. The project’s aim is to talk about that period with no direct reference to communism but only through different stories focused on personal options in a time of misfortunes that people had to live like normal times. 4 months, 3 weeks & 2 days is the first film of the series. (Artificial Eye) Continue reading
Plot summary:
Francesca is a young kindergarten teacher whose dream is to immigrate to Italy. Searching for a better life, Francesca is ready to overcome any obstacles, even the worries and the doubtfulness of the people closest to her. The plan is that her boyfriend, Mita, should join her in Italy as soon as he closes the small business he runs. Things take an unfortunate turn, painful truths come to light and priorities change. Written by Mandragora Movies
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In Transylvania, in the 19th century, the village birthplace of a rich farmer’s son is undergoing a cholera epidemic when he returns from studying at a university, and bodies are being removed from houses. Once at home, he spies the beautiful daughter of a local forester. However, one of his father’s servants has also seen her, and they become rivals in love. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
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“A twenty-something generation that doesn’t know what it wants is laid bare with droll accuracy but also a dose of sympathy in this slow-burning romantic dramedy by young Romanian director Paul Negoescu. Following on in the new-wave Romanian tradition of stories that pan out in less than 24 hours, A Month In Thailand charts the indecisions of a young man on New Year’s Eve as he dithers between his current girlfriend and the one he ditched months before.” – Lee Marshall, Screen Daily Continue reading
