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!

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.

There are two things you need to be willing to embrace before you watch this film. First, the film is not going to make the connections between the characters easy for you. If you are a lazy viewer who is not paying close attention to the dialogue or you do not grasp the connections between the various dramas that are played out, you might be frustrated with what superficially appears to be a lack of direction and feel the film is "pointless". Second, the film is EXTREMELY Eastern European in character. If you want a Hollywood ending you will not find it here.

However, I simply love films like this that propel you into a difficult family situation and spend most of the film time there, allowing you to try to figure out for yourself what's going on. "The Godfather" is one example; I was also a huge fan of Roman Polanski's "Carnage". For people who like that kind of thing this film is a huge treat. It is only at the very end, after the slightly odd car monologue by the main character, that you really feel satisfied with what the film has accomplished and that you have come to understand a subtle coherence within the mess of individual failed narratives. Every character in this film is a self-actualized, 21st century individual who has come up with their own personal story about how the world works. The film's plot makes that obvious, but the remaining questions are up to you: where are the lies? Where is the truth? What happens to the main character at the end? This is a rather beautiful puzzle to behold.

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.