4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days is impossible to turn away from, although I intensely wanted to. This film is so stark and relentless, so concise and realistic, it is as if the events are happening to you. Set in late-80's Romania, 4 Months follow Otilia (played by Anamaria Marinca) as she assists her roommate, Gabriela (played by Laura Vasiliu), in arranging and following through with an abortion. Abortions, at the time, were illegal and very dangerous, and were carried out in a back-alley fashion, so you can imagine the clinical aspects of the film, and that is reason enough for the faint-hearted to steer clear of it. The film, however, is as gripping as a suspense thriller. Imagine a heist sequence and the suspense involved in whether or not the bad guys will set off the alarm, and hold that tension for an hour and a half, and you have an idea of how unbearable this film is, and, at the same time, how powerful. The director, Cristian Mungiu, is so spare that nearly every scene is filmed in one unbroken shot, making it seem all the more as if you are a participant in the events and not a spectator. Add to that the lack of a musical score, and 4 Months becomes one of the most unnerving experiences I've had in quite a while.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Movies You May Have Missed: Now on DVD
4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days is impossible to turn away from, although I intensely wanted to. This film is so stark and relentless, so concise and realistic, it is as if the events are happening to you. Set in late-80's Romania, 4 Months follow Otilia (played by Anamaria Marinca) as she assists her roommate, Gabriela (played by Laura Vasiliu), in arranging and following through with an abortion. Abortions, at the time, were illegal and very dangerous, and were carried out in a back-alley fashion, so you can imagine the clinical aspects of the film, and that is reason enough for the faint-hearted to steer clear of it. The film, however, is as gripping as a suspense thriller. Imagine a heist sequence and the suspense involved in whether or not the bad guys will set off the alarm, and hold that tension for an hour and a half, and you have an idea of how unbearable this film is, and, at the same time, how powerful. The director, Cristian Mungiu, is so spare that nearly every scene is filmed in one unbroken shot, making it seem all the more as if you are a participant in the events and not a spectator. Add to that the lack of a musical score, and 4 Months becomes one of the most unnerving experiences I've had in quite a while.
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2 comments:
This is the movie I plan to see to make up for the fact that I don't want to see The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
Will have to see it on streaming video - Netflix has a wait on the disc.
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