The life of the average teenage adolescent is dramatic. Filled with awkward moments and a strong urge to be something more, you are in a place of limbo that has you searching aimlessly for the person you will become. Dealing with yourself is difficult enough; once the concept o... Read More »
Any devotee of contemporary Romanian cinema will point you to the prominent distinction between two strands in the country’s filmic output. There are those realism-inclined movies concerned with issues facing the nation now, and there is the plethora of pictures that—like in any ... Read More »
Here…I Mean There (2012) is a most unusual documentary. It does not address a global concern like climate change, poverty or hunger nor does it address abuse or neglect. It focuses on a family in rural Romania and what they are doing to earn money. Ani and Sanda were very youn... Read More »
Thirteen couples and one single female converge at a remote camp designed to help them get perspective on, and potentially to strengthen, their relationships. The camp is run by three young men, all of whom are wrestling with their own issues. There's Silviu (Dragos Bucur), the g... Read More »
After many years of hardy service, grandfather’s axe had to have its worn blade replaced, its shiny new counterpart returning the tool to its original vitality and power. Years later still, the weathered handle, splintered and frayed from usage, was exchanged for a sturdy new sha... Read More »
Writer-director Marian Crisan has inverted the dynamics of the unhealthy father-son relationship. Victor (Dan Chiorstean), the father, has been eroded into submission, largely by his heroin-addict son, Fang (Alin State), but also by his plodding life. His fault seems to be little... Read More »
Alberto (Nestor Guzzini) is a divorced father who spends too little time with his children, Lucia (Malu Chouza) and Federico (Joaquin Castiglioni). He takes them to an Uruguayan hot spring resort where he hopes they will have a great time and become closer again. Unfortunately, i... Read More »
Somali pirates board a Danish ship demanding a ransom for the boat and the heads on board. This encapsulates the board meetings and the hostage situation by intricately crafting both stories on and off the ship. Condensing months of mission into a tight, poignant 99 minutes that ... Read More »
Coming to a close tomorrow after ten days of celebrating cinema, the twelfth annual Transilvania International Film Festival—Romania’s biggest and, until 2009, only festival for international features—has placed in the spotlight a number of the foremost emergent talents around th... Read More »
Iveta Grofova’s Made in Ash is a corpse of a film. It’s unpleasant without being displeasing, uncomfortable without being discomforting. It does not care about its characters. Why should we care for it? The film begins with Dorotka (Dorotka Billa) overhearing her father admonishi... Read More »
One of the most promising of Romania’s “second tier” of filmmakers, as it were—his works have yet to achieve the attention of the likes of Cristi Puiu, Cristian Mungiu, or Radu Muntean—Dan Chisu has proved himself every bit as adept and versatile a director as his most famous cou... Read More »
I wanted to like A Farewell to Fools. Starring Gérard Depardieu and Harvey Keitel, this remake—a first in the history of Romanian cinema, if I'm correct—falls flat. Decidedly not a place you want to be when you take on such a rich, well-liked story like The Death of Ipu. My long-... Read More »
