Sieranevada

Wow, wow, wow, did I say wow? Wow!

How can three hours of movie go so fast? the movie in itself is very local, but so human, so for people acquainted with the old ways in the Eastern Europe region, this is very evocative.

Everyone, will find a character to like, and one to despise, one too similar to him, and one so dissimilar, that it hurts. Unfortunately I'm a national, and can't figure if the translations make it right, but for sure the dialogue, looks like a stage of 12 Angry Men (this time more like 15), exposing the back bone of a life time at the Paradise's gates.

Sure there are quite a few good movies on the theme, but not many filmed 90% in 500 square feet. So the feeling of being there is so real.

Unfortunately if the first hour eats your interest, I can understand how other people got bored, where I got so excited. Thought the reality of characters is very crisp, almost to the point I can say - that is uncle A, that's Grandpa', and that's Aunt M.

So if you want to get your head spinning, to feel momentary hate for some characters otherwise benign at other points, and wanting to get real exposure to end-of-Communism Romanian urban life. This is it!

I don't know why but I found this movie really good. It resembled to the the high school book I had to read in my time, Enigma Otiliei or like Morometii book & screen play. Like all Romanian movies, it has that drama-parody of being a post-communist member; like all the good post-revolution movies. This movie is from the same category. But! And there's a huge "But". This movie has a really tangled and well-structured story line. The characters are really complex. I loved the "detailed" small-talks that took place alongside the main story. Also, like many Romanian families, you have that huge abundance of relatives that you have to deal with. You have that "It's family!" saying that your mother told you every time you couldn't stand your cousin when you were little. Also, all the actors seem to play their parts really well. I've seen almost all the good Romanian movies and I can say that these are some hardcore actors. They fit so well with their characters and their performance is almost perfect. Yes, it has the downsides that all Romanian movies have: the static scenes and the bad sound quality. You have to have subtitle otherwise, most of the time, if you are Romanian, you won't understand a word. All of this being said, enjoy! It's just a pure South-Eastern Week-end story event!

This is definitely a carefully crafted movie by a gifted director.

The result is disappointing though: way too long.

I enjoyed the fact that it captures real conflicts and emotions.

Could have done that in half the time though.

Good film for movies snobs.

Family drama has never portrayed this good. You are invited into this family's house during the aftermath of a funeral in the wintertime. It gets very intense.

The long demanding exhausting movie is permeated with Eastern European scent. The legacy of the poor relatives and backyards of Europe is recognisable in every excruciating detail for those who had grown up there. Smallish crowded kitchens with dilapidated cabinets. Worn out light switches which were the same in Bucharest or Kyiv. Long tables if unfolded occupy the whole living room and you squeeze yourself out to get to your seat. Low-waged doctors who downshift to medical equipment salesmen. And the family saga which unfolds painfully slow and mesmerisingly absorbing. Once you are on the other side of the film equator you cannot but start guessing what the hell is going on in this family. Cutting of the movie is so unorthodox that you start wondering if there had been any cutting at all.