Romanian film review – Movies to Watch Now: 5 Minutes Too Late & Collective

In a time when everything is happening online, one film is doing cinema rounds, physically! With its initial premiere on 27 March canceled, the team of 5 minute/5 Minutes Too Late is now trying again to tour theatres since November 20, after an online premiere (somewhat ironically, but a good decision to make it available country-wide). Right now it is showing in several cinemas in Hunedoara, Caraș-Severin, Gorj, and Harghita, and more cinemas will follow depending on the legal context. Fingers crossed for as many more as possible.

Based partially on true events, 5 Minutes Too Late deals with the aftermath of a violently interrupted projection of an LGBT-themed movie by a homophobic group. When a young man is severely injured by the (allegedly) tardy response from the Gendarmerie, the uncovering of said events bring the officer in charge of the intervention to a breaking point, as well as make a particularly driven journalist follow her lead with zero compromises.

Dan Chișu has never been a subtle filmmaker, and 5 MinutesToo Late is no exception, although it has the best of intentions. Some of the acting and the dialogue is unnatural, and some occurrences are blatantly put in just to serve the plot. And still, the film is entertaining, with a solid, tense tempo and building up to an emotionally wrenching ending.5 Minutes Too Late is also earnestly, refreshingly direct in its condemnation of homophobia and the troubling dealings of a commercial,ratings-driven press, as well as clever enough to know that things are often muddier than we‘d like them to be. The true events at the origin of the film, the homophobic interruptions of two LGBT films at the cinema of the Romanian Peasant Museum (in 2013 during the screening of The Kids Are Alright and in 2018 during the screening of 120 Beats per Minute) are shameful, as were the reactions on the part of official institutions, so any critical tackling of the matter is more than welcome.

Another event this past week is Collective’s simultaneous release on digital platforms in the UK and US (