Elevator

Tudor Caranfil declared it "The event of the year in Romanian cinema" - and rightly so! George Dorobantu's "Elevator" is intelligent, inspired, tasty, and masterfully done. By a funny paradox, the author is a self-educated movie director, his basic profession being that of a navy officer. Still, he proved to have assimilated in the deepest and most creative way all the essentials of the trade. The directing is precise, skillful and stylish, able to convey a vibrant tragic thrill. One follows this movie propped upright on the seat's edge, barely breathing, and in the end one whispers: "Goodness, and all this is true...!" Could you believe that it was done with barely 200 (two HUNDRED!) euros? The remaining of the investment capital consisted in passion, devotion, strenuous work and shiploads of TALENT.

Next to the already consecrated Nae Caranfil, Cristian Mungiu, Cristi Puiu, Corneliu Porumboiu, Radu Muntean, Alecu Solomon, Radu Jude, Tudor Giurgiu, Cätälin Mitulescu, Florin Iepan, Hanno Höfer, and the late Cristian Nemescu, comes now GEORGE DOROBANTU with his own contribution at bringing to life Romanian cinema. Thank you, buddy!

The very first scene of Elevator features a young boy and girl, both perhaps 15, trapped in a lift in an abandoned building in Romania, screaming for help. Before you see the film, you are likely to be aware that it was made on a shoestring (there is low-budget, there is ultra low-budget, then there is 200 euros), that it was based on a true story, and that it is entirely set in the lift space. With no back-story, with no outside world, and just two characters, you immediately worry where can it go from here? How can it possibly sustain the viewer's interest for a feature-length film?

And yet it does, and does so surprisingly well. As the days pass, the sense of atmosphere heightens, and the audience starts to feel the claustrophobia and stench of the tiny shared space as keenly as the two characters. The editing is taut and the lead (that is, only) performances are well-pitched. Despite the low budget, there is an effective soundtrack that lends a sense of urgency to key scenes.

The script, especially the pacing and character development, is particularly strong, and what might be pre-conceived as depressing and dull art-house fare is, in fact, lively, warm, accessible and humorous, with plenty of tension and suspense. An excellent, unexpected closing scene puts the icing on the cake. Proof, then, that you can make a great film for the cost of an ipod.