Trafic

One would agree if it is stated that everybody has a reason for liking or disliking a work of art.This is the same feeling a viewer would get while watching Romanian short film "Trafic".There are chances that many viewers might dislike it despite the fact that it won prestigious "palme d'or" for the best short film during Cannes International Film Festival 2004.It is quite possible that one would blame its lack of action and slow speed for not liking it.A film is also capable of eliciting surprises for everybody.This is the reason why there is also a possibility of brave viewers liking this film but a lot would depend on how viewers have found about this film ? A casual viewer would not have very high expectations about a film which focuses on a man caught in a traffic jam. Serious viewers might be charmed by this film as it has already caught the fancy of Cannes jury which appreciated the manner in which issues related to child care,banal job and traffic jams are treated in a single film.Lastly,Trafic is worth a viewing as some amount of suspense is created despite all evident,unfulfilled hopes of a grandiose denouement.

I've been waiting for quite long for this to happen. not a let-me-show-u-how-postrevolutionary-poor-and-comicotragical-romanian-people-struggle-through-life (the "you cant understand it unless you're one of us" feature is a bonus) script. not an embarrassing to watch Hollywood-look-alike attempt either. but then again who knows what wouldve come out of it supposing it was a 100min film... however it struck me by being quite well-handled in points of acting and photography. the insight we get on the character is apparently pure epidermic ordinary details :the traffic is heavy so he gets stuck, misses a business appointment, has to deal by handsfree with his small daughter's having swallowed a hair accessoire, he meets a student selling sodas and cokes on the street to the thirsty-stuck-in-their-cars-and-probably-neglecting-their-family businessmen, he buys her a coffee and before they split up he asks her to take a picture of him making funny faces and he sends it via cellphone to his daughter. hm hm so what's all the fuss about it and how the hell did it get the palme d'or for shorts? i wonder about the latter myself too, but hey, don't expect prizes in film festivals to be won only by masterpieces. still i cant but admire the know-how of the director when it comes to deal with his characters, ergo they do tell a story, even if the short seems to offer a crumb of a narrative. its poignant its delicate and human, quite a breath of fresh air though a bit clumsily constructed from a conceptual point of view. quite urban for my taste