Stars:
****
Rating: Not rated but should be R for
graphic sexuality and mature themes
Run
Time: 1 hour, 53 minutes. In Romanian
with English subtitles
I’m a big
fan of grim realism and no one does it better than the Romanians. Think that
country’s “The Death of Mr. Lazarescu” – a bleak look at one man’s disquieting journey
navigating the sticky wickets of human frailty – and you get the picture.
Virtuoso director Cristian Mungiu
crafts an unforgettable import, training his cameras on an enterprising
university student (Anamaria Marinca as Otilia) endeavoring to help a pregnant
friend (Laura Vasiliu) in her most desperate hour of need.
The Iron Curtain obscures 1980s
Romania – rationing and censorship among the daily hardships -- and the girls’ journey
is fraught with peril, threat lurking around every corner. From trying to
procure a private hotel room without adequate papers to placating a black
market abortionist (Vlad Ivanov) every minute of this painfully intimate drama
is spring-loaded with apprehension.
Mungiu seems bent on stark contrasts;
one woman’s vulnerability taking a backseat to another’s grace under pressure,
futilely maintaining appearances with a boyfriend’s reveling parents while
biting back the horror of doings behind locked doors, and the relative safety
of a university dorm room versus the mean streets of Cold War Romania.
Marinca consumes the screen with a
steely, ferocious will. The subtleties of her performance are both gutsy and
emotionally devastating. Ivanov is suitably, and appallingly, repugnant.
The 2007 Cannes Palme d’Or winner
utilizes its draconian politics to underscore the desperate determination and
nerve-racking fear of stepping outside the box. Even when it could cost you
your life.