The Romanian film Când se lasa seara peste Bucuresti sau metabolism was shown in the U.S. with the title When Evening Falls on Bucharest or Metabolism (2013). It was written and directed by Corneliu Porumboiu.
Movies about making movies aren't new, but this one is different. We never really see anyone making the movie. What we see instead is the star, Alina--played by the beautiful Diana Avramut--and the director, Paul (Bogdan Dumitrache) in endless discussion about making movies.
They are also rehearsing her nude scene, when she steps out of a shower, although the rehearsal is done with her fully clothed. (There's a very short shot of Alina in bed, nude from the waist up, but it wasn't clear to me what that had to do with the shower scene. Actually, it wasn't clear to me what that had to do with the rest of the movie.)
Other than talking, Paul and Alina eat, and they smoke. The eating scenes are interesting, in the sense that Paul wolfs down his food, while Alina delicately cuts her food into small portions, and then brings it carefully to her mouth. The constant smoking is taken for granted in the movie. Maybe smoking is still commonplace in Romania, at least among people in the movie industry. It looks strange to me compared to what we see around us in the U.S.
Much is made of the fact that Alina looks like the beautiful Italian actress Monica Vitti. (Paul knows the history of cinema, and has studied the films of Antonioni.) Alina is lovely, but she doesn't look much like Monica Vitti, and she apparently has no interest in film history.
One point was well taken. Alina has worked in theater as well as film. Paul points out to her that most theater directors have to direct plays written by others. They have to try to understand what the author meant and wanted. Paul--in the movie within a movie--and Porumboiu--in this movie--have written the work they are directing. So, whatever else does or doesn't happen, at least they know what the writer was trying to say.
There's a scene, apparently set in a trailer, where we watch a video of an upper endoscopy. None of that made sense to me. Was that a scene from the movie that presumably was being made? Who needed convincing that the gastroscopy was normal? Very strange.
We've seen several recent films from Romania. Like this one, they are considered part of the Romanian New Wave. We've enjoyed all the others. This one had its moments, but I don't think it's worth seeking out.
We watched the movie at the excellent Dryden Theatre in George Eastman House in Rochester. (It was part of the Curator's Choice series.) If you decide to see it, it will work equally well on the small screen.
