4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days review
Tom Elce reviews Romanian director Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, a film that won Golden Palm and FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes 2007
Romanian cinema has been surprisingly prolific despite a fairly limited output. Averaging less than ten cinematic outputs in recent years, Romania has nonetheless managed to produce films that have set festivals alight (or been good enough to achieve some critical acknowledgment). The latest, Cristian Mungiu's "4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days," has gone on to win the prestigious Palme d'Or at 2007's Cannes Film Festival, and though it may not rank amongst the best winners of the prize, it has a constant magnetism about it, not to mention an unnerving treatment of subject matter that viewers otherwise might only have heard of in vague detail with fleeting news reports on the tube.
Mungiu's film follows Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) in 1980's Romania as she tries to secure her friend Gabriela (Laura Vasiliu) an illegal abortion. Problems obviously present themselves in the Communist country as Otilia attempts to arrange the procedure, a trip to a hotel room set to stage the grim showing a precursor to the gritty, realistic treatment that is to follow. As is, Otilia and Gabriela are either struggling to convince their doctor-of-choice, keeping hotel employees at a distance or battling their own personal demons.
Winning an award previously afforded to the likes of Gus Van Sant's "Elephant" and Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" sets expectations high and ultimately "4 Months, 3 Weeks & Days" doesn't live up to the standards of such cinematic masterpieces, but it doesn't really need to. All things considered, the film delivers enough to be worth a recommendation, the fine acting performances from Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu and Vlad Ivanov probably the best factors about it as each disappears into their respective characters. Director Mungiu himself also does a great job directing, shooting his film with style and flair without ever seeming pretentious about it. His film, working from a screenplay he devised himself, doesn't mug for dramatic effect of glamourise anything that happens with its flawed characters. As such, viewers dissatisfied with rarely-palpable Hollywood outings might find solace in the modest "4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days".
(1 vote)
Comments( 3 )
A nice review Tom, but it leaves me
A nice review Tom, but it leaves me curious to know more about the film....
Also, your review sounds little ambiguous to me...is the film worth the exhilaration?? Or it's just another film?
I agree with you on that. Having
I agree with you on that. Having re-read I would have liked to have expanded on some of my points and, yes, bring to light further positive things that could have been said about it - because there are many. In answer to your questions; The film is indeed worth the exhilaration, and is good enough that it isn't just another film.
[...] 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days:
[...] 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days: Palm d’or winner at Cannes 2007, this Romanian film narrates the story of a young woman who assists her friend to arrange an illegal abortion in 1980’s Romania. [...]