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Movie Description
On the heels of Cristi Puiu's brilliant THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU comes another outstanding picture, 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS, which firmly establishes Romania as a major force in early 21st-century world cinema. Winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, Cristian Mungiu's excruciatingly intense drama is set in Bucharest in the mid-1980s, as Nicolae Ceaucescu and his evil dictatorship continue to reign. In a country where abortion is outlawed, a young college student, Gabita (Laura Vasiliu), finds herself in big trouble. Unsure what to do, she turns to her roommate, Otilia (Anamaria Marinca), for help. On the day on which the film takes place, the pair connects with a black market doctor, Bebe (Vlad Ivanov), in order to take care of Gabita's pregnancy--but, of course, it isn't that simple. The resulting 24 hours reveals a harrowing descent into a world in which the possibility of tragedy lurks around every corner.
Mungiu's decision to film every scene in a hyper-documentary style, with long, unbroken takes (by co-producer Oleg Mutu), ratchets up the tension to nearly unbearable proportions. Adding even greater drama is his decision to focus on the friend, not the victim. Marinca's face, filmed in unflinching close-ups, expresses the impossibly complex flood of emotions that nag her throughout the day. The film's true revelation, however, is Ivanov, whose portrayal of the shady doctor is an absolute tour-de-force. 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS is filmmaking at its most masterly.
Industry Reviews
"Mungiu demonstrates great proficiency with suspense throughout....The humour in 4 MONTHS is of a sharper, darker kind."
Sight and Sound - Ben Walters (01/01/2008)
4 stars out of 5 -- "Mungiu's film is a bracing exercise in down and dirty realism....This is harrowing stuff."
Total Film - Tom Charity (01/01/2008)
"[I]t conveys unblinking and despairing emotional truth with enough intensity to leave you gasping for air."
Los Angeles Times - Kenneth Turan (12/21/2007)
4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] pertinent and challenging issue movie that also scores as an intense and involving psychological thriller."
Uncut - Hannah McGill (02/01/2008)
"Cristian Mungiu's unsentimental and unsparing film is profoundly feminist."
Film Comment - Amy Taubin (01/01/2008)
"Mungiu has taken a leap forward into bold, focused storytelling....He has fashioned a film of rigor and urgency."
Film Comment - Kristin M. Jones (01/01/2008)
5 stars out of 5 -- "[S]uperb....Brilliantly made. Its aquarium colors are gorgeous, the camerawork superb, the girls amazing..."
Empire - Damon Wise (02/01/2008)
"[A] ferocious, unsentimental, often brilliantly directed film....A haunting and haunted intellectual and aesthetic achievement."
New York Times - Manohla Dargis (01/25/2008)
"[A] powerful documentary-style drama....Misery is everywhere in this spare masterpiece, but so is artistic triumph." -- Grade: A
Entertainment Weekly - Lisa Schwarzbaum (02/01/2008)
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "The film takes place over 24 hours, and the sense of tension felt by the lead female characters is palpable....Powerful and gripping."
USA Today - Claudia Puig (02/01/2008)
4 stars out of 4 -- "Marinca gives the kind of performance awards are made for. This is great acting -- you can't shake it."
Rolling Stone - Peter Travers (02/07/2008)
"A realistically etched and perfectly pitched drama..."
Box Office - Shlomo Schwartzberg (03/01/2008)
4 stars out of 4 -- "[A] remarkably engrossing and thoughtful picture, beautifully rendered in an artful mode of realism."
Premiere - Glenn Kenny (01/17/2008)
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