Best known for 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS/’07, writer/director -Cristian Mungiu tackles more Modern Romanian Misérables in this powerfully ineffective look at the lengths of compromise & corruption even a basically honest upper-middle-class doctor will go thru (must go thru) to ensure his daughter gets the opportunities he feels she’s entitled to (feels he’s entitled to) after high school. Not that he’s asked if she wants to study abroad; if his depressed wife wants him OUT/or his mistress wants him IN; if his dying patient is pulling strings for him as a quid pro quo on the Q.T. in order to jump up the waiting list for a new liver, if a police lieutenant will hush up irregularities to get a quick indictment on that man who may have assaulted the doctor’s daughter (and/or vandalized his car & apartment) . . . and so on. (No cash, please; favors leave less of a trail.) The good doctor sees it all blowing up in his face in real time, but can’t those ‘honest’ inspectors also be bribed? As it stands, wife, daughter, mistress, well-connected friend, all barely speaking to him. If only the good doctor weren’t right so much of the time. Yet precise structuring and clever ‘reveals’ prove not enough to keep an audience involved. Ah for the days of Italian commedia all'italiana where you might imagine the great Alberto Sordi giving the role & issues the absurdist energy, bitter humor & audience identification to make you laugh while ideas got implanted across the political spectrum.* Mungiu seems content to preach to the choir and Film Fest regulars.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: *No need to imagine, Sordi did it commedia all'italiana style (for Vittorio De Sica) as IL BOOM/’63. No classic, but a solid example of the form.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Mungiu also over-eggs the pudding by making the daughter and her motorcycle riding boyfriend by far the best looking people on screen. As if we’re not already in their corner.
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