One sunny day at the park, five-year-old Maria and her brother Ilie are running around the busy playground. Dad Tudor drinks coffee and chats to the other parents. Everyone is keeping an eye out and yet, suddenly, the unthinkable happens: Maria is gone. Helpers are called in and do their utmost, but that evening Tudor and his wife Cristina are at home, devastated: their daughter has really disappeared.
Director Popescu shows how disruptive grief and pain are by following Tudor for over two hours as the latter attempts to arrive at an answer. Is Cristina’s charming ex-colleague somehow involved? And who is that childless oddball at the park? Watching him disintegrate as blind desperation takes hold is soul-destroying. Popescu records all this with quiet, chilling distance using prize-winning actors and sure-footed camerawork that can be suddenly, intensely close at times.Read More »
Romania
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Constantin Popescu – Pororoca (2017)
Drama2011-2020Constantin PopescuRomania -
Dan Pita – Femeia visurilor AKA Dream Woman (2005)
2001-2010ArthouseDan PitaDramaRomaniaThis full feature movie presents the story of a renowned director, Thomas (Dan Condurache), at the peak of his career, obsessed by the hallucinations of the desired woman, but also of his creative problems. Although his movies are awarded, and he is loved by the public, by actors and friends, Thomas is tormented by the desire to direct the movie of his life.Read More »
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Corneliu Porumboiu – A fost sau n-a fost? AKA 12-08 East of Bucharest (2006)
2001-2010ComedyCorneliu PorumboiuDramaRomaniaQuote:
It’s the 22nd of December. Sixteen years have passed since the revolution, and in a small town Christmas is about to come. Piscoci, an old retired man is preparing for another Christmas alone. Manescu, the history teacher, tries to keep up with his debts. Jderescu, the owner of a local television post, seems not to be so interested in the upcoming holidays. For him, the time to face history has come. Along with Manescu and Piscoci, he is trying to answer for himself a question which for 16 years has not had an answer: “Was it or wasn’t it a revolution in their town?”Read More » -
Cãlin Peter Netzer – Ana, mon amour (2017)
2011-2020Calin Peter NetzerDramaRomaniaToma and Ana meet as students in the literature faculty, and quickly fall in love.
The story of Ana and Toma and the thread of Ana’s mental illness, which runs through their relationship – their extremely challenging situation molds the life they share.Who’s to blame when Toma’s girlfriend Ana, a college student, goes off the rails with incapacitating panic attacks? Tracing the causes of her mental ills back to her early family life, including a father who defected to the West, the film proposes various cures that range from prescription drugs to confession in church and — just a short step beyond that — the couch. It’s a smart film with engaging moments.
The games people play with each other and the trap of co-dependency are the main focus. As shrewd a psychologist as any therapist, Netzer adopts a warm approach to his characters but doesn’t let them off the hook when, on closer observation, their altruistic actions are revealed as controlling and manipulative. Read More » -
Daniel Sandu – One Step Behind the Seraphim (2017)
2011-2020Daniel SanduDramaRomaniaA group of freshmen in an orthodox college are introduced in a world of cons, pleasure and money, but they soon discover that’s not the way one’s life should be lead.
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Dan Pita & Mircea Veroiu – Nunta de piatra AKA The Stone Wedding (1973)
1971-1980ArthouseDan Pita and Mircea VeroiuDramaRomaniaStone Wedding (Nunta de piatra) is made of two distinct segments directed by two different directors. The first part (M. Veroiu) depicts the miserable life of a widow in Romania at the beginning of the century. The second part (D. Pita) is about a bride on the day of her wedding. The best part of both movies is the soundtrack by Dorin Liviu Zaharia, Dan Andrei Aldea and Sfinx.Read More »
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Radu Jude – Inimi cicatrizate AKA Scarred Hearts (2016)
2011-2020DramaRadu JudeRomaniaEmanuel spends his days at a sanatorium. Falling in love with another patient, he narrates his and his fellow patients’ attempts to live life to the fullest as their bodies slowly fade away, but their minds refuse to give up.
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Cristi Puiu – Sieranevada (2016)
2011-2020Cristi PuiuDramaRomaniaQuote:
Somewhere in Bucharest, three days after the attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris and forty days after his father’s death, 40-year-old doctor Lary spends one Saturday at a family gathering in memory of the deceased.
The event does not go as planned. Discussions are heated, fierce differences of opinion arise.
Forced to face his fears and his past, and obliged to reconsider his place in the family, Lary is left with no choice but to tell the truth… (cannes)Read More » -
Adrian Sitaru – Ilegitim AKA Illegitimate (2016)
2011-2020Adrian SitaruArthouseDramaRomaniaSynopsis
Two siblings and an illegitimate love. A father who’s a doctor and several accusations. A family in which no one ever drew a line between what’s moral and what’s legal. Not even when it comes to abortion.
IMDb.comRead More »