Romanian film review – Playful, adventurous, experimental: Current movies & festivals

Here we go again, it is September, and everything is happening at once, everywhere. Most cinema premieres are planned for autumn, so are many film fests. The reason are manifold, from the end of vacation to how local financing for culture works.

After having been screened at festivals or events (most recently The Long Night of Romanian Film), Andrei Crețulescu’s Ext. Mașină. Noapte/ Ext. Car – Night and Gabi Virginia Șarga and Cătălin Rotaru’s Unde merg elefanții/ Where Elephants Go are fresh in theatres, and fresh is also what they are. Andrei Crețulescu has been directing metafictional, genre-mixing movies for a while now, working with the same group of actors, and quoting (I assume what must be his) favourite classics, and musicians. There is great joy in discovering a quote, an allusion, an homage in these films, and Ext. Car – Night is no exception. In its very short running time (a compliment), the film has three parts: a thriller, a scene from this pic’s pre-production and a long drive with the actors talking. It is entertaining, insightful, but also sometimes a bit too cool (or trying hard to be cool). This is a constant in Crețulescu’s pics but does not ultimately take away from their fun and playfulness. Playful also sums up Where Elephants Go. The story of a young girl who has cancer, her mother, and a slacker they meet randomly is a film that verges very very close to cliché and cheesiness but avoids it last minute and has so many good moments. It drew me in despite some of my resistance, I have to admit. The directing duo has a refreshingly different take on plot, dialogue and (conveying) feeling, which makes their film a peculiarity in Romanian cinema and such a welcome one, a surprising mix of drama and comedy, utterly unafraid of risking being silly or too emotional. The camera is equally playful and free.