| 4 Months 3 Weeks 2 DaysEvent date: August 6, 2010 This amazing drama from Romania won the Golden Palm at Cannes. Synopis from MetaCritic: During the final days of communism in Romania, two college roommates Otilia and Gabita are busy preparing for a night away. But rather than planning for a holiday, they are making arrangements forGabita’s illegal abortion and unwittingly, both find themselves burrowing deep down a rabbit hole of unexpected revelations. Not Rated, has been described as “brutal but brilliant”. Each of these critics, and many more gave their highest rating. Time Richard Corliss One of the strongest movies in recent years. Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan This is a film with a commitment to reality unlike any we’re used to seeing. Variety Jay Weissberg Pitch perfect and brilliantly acted, 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days is a stunning achievement, helmed with a purity and honesty that captures not just the illegal abortion story at its core but the constant, unremarked negotiations necessary for survival in the final days of the Soviet bloc. LA Weekly Ella Taylor Though the frighteningly late-term abortion at its center hints at larger sins in the last gasp of Nicolae Ceausescu’s iron-fisted regime, it’s no metaphor, but a sordidly visceral transaction conducted in the next best thing to a back alley. Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum Nothing good happens in 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, the riveting, horrifying chronicle of an illegal abortion performed in 1987 when Ceauescu’s dictatorial hand still gripped Romania’s throat. And yet no lover of greatness in filmmaking will want to look away from one of the very best movies of 2007. The New York Times Manohla Dargis It’s a pitiless, violent story that in its telling becomes a haunting and haunted intellectual and aesthetic achievement. Premiere Glenn Kenny A remarkably engrossing and thoughtful picture, beautifully rendered in an artful mode of realism.
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern Elegantly crafted, brilliantly acted film. New York Daily News Jack Mathews This year’s foreign language Oscar scandal – there is always at least one – is the snub of director Cristian Mungiu’s disturbing, masterful realist drama following two college roommates as they carry out plans for one’s black market abortion in Communist Romania. Salon.com Andrew O’Hehir Despite their terrible ordeal these women are heroes, not victims. As Mungiu makes clear in the casual, brilliant final scene of this amazing movie, heroes persevere. San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle First, this movie should be enjoyed. Later, marveled at. And then, once the excitement has faded, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days really should be studied, because director Cristian Mungiu creates scenes unlike any ever filmed. |
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This is indeed an amazing film. Must see.
Comment by Joe — August 3, 2010 @ 11:55 am