Ruxx

First, I haven't seen Umbre, second here are my two cents.

I say this is Bucharest, at least a part of it. I say this movie - series make one think, question and feel. Some of the language is unnecessary vulgare and some of the scenes Americanized or westernized. But to be truly honest, this is, in my opinion, an honest and cynical representation up until a certain level of how the Romanians are trying to fit in in a modern yet not 100% identifiable version of life. There is a lot of confusion, diffusion, signs of corruption and chaos, powerplay and undergorund life which at first sight seem so random and remote, but they are part of our life, this is a good and uncomfortable reflection all together, especilly with its "kitsch"iness of how lots of us try and succed to fit in, in this new globalized world. Yes, it could have been more flattering in general for Romanians, but its purpose is to make us think and question... everything? Especially women's place and roles in the contemporary times. Not a fan of the new generalized trend of serving a dish of lessons regarding sex orietntation, but at least in this movie I see it as a pretext to challenge prejudices, to extend visions, to pt our tolerability and intelligence to a test.

Last but nit least, I really felt so many, many colours of emotions seeing Bucharest from up above and from a certain distance. A unique place of mixtures, versatility and eclectism (also indulgently embracing the ugly and beautiful of balcanical or not :) kitsch) of making its way, trying its best to "make" it in the absence of the the coherence or the leadership or proper systems which other places in the world benfit of.

Full disclosure: I cam to to this series because of Alec Secareanu, the actor that plays Andrei in the series. I have followed him since God's Own Country and was excited to see his work in this format.

As a longtime avid consumer of films, a former theatre student, and a member of the LGBTQIA community, I am so in love with this series.

Firstly, a suggestion to viewers: opt for subtitles. I do NOT know what is up with the dubbing industry or who decided what voiceover actor goes with what character but, lord, just read the dialogue. The pitch of the voiceover actors are NOTHING like that of the actual cast and it is really jarring to me.

That said, I am very impressed with the way this series has chosen to tackle controversial and commonplace subjects alike. The script and the skillful work by the actors craft these issues without a sign of preachiness or excess. Whether it is the caregiving of a parent, relationship dynamics, or the very real problems of misogyny, bigotry and prejudice, or self discovery, each is handled with the honesty and worth it deserves. The plot unfolds like origami, intricate and surprising, each fold a new revelation.

The work is also succinct, in many ways. Things are not overexplained; histories are not exhaustively hashed out. The writer trusts the viewer to make those connections focusing on the larger storylines that move the plot forward.

To write this series, to include the subject matter in what is still a very conservative country, is, if not great work, BRAVE work.

Judge for yourselves.

We did not exceed the level of the films of the 90's immediately after the 'revolution' in Romania when after so many years of censorship we felt the need to use in excess: swearing, nudity and sex, all this without any cinematic relevance. We note that in 2022 WOKE also reached Romanian cinema, unfortunately ....

The cast is stellar, but...

Foley stifles speech.

Semi-illiterate verbiage; not colloquial style, but grammatical uneducated unwitting errors.

Mixed Romanian-English stilted language; the gen. Z lot don't talk like that.

Some dialogues look as if they are re-translated from American-English life experience patterns.

Unintelligible diction sometimes, subtitles frequently needed.

Woke themes raised here and there, sometimes everywhere, unwarranted.

A lot of action happens through smart phones screens' (sic!) social media.

The plot is passable mediocre, no humdinger (though they touted it as terrific), or far-fetched incomprehensible story, or gross mistakes. The story simply starts out of nowhere, then expands erratically elsewhere. It should taste bad for either the cultured or the spoon fed.

As for swearing, now that is one genuine characteristic! Points gained.

HBO raised a high bar with series "Umbre", then dropped it low down now.

This is a very confusing series from Romania. There is little context as to who the characters are, as from the very start of episode 1, the viewer is dropped into a story that seems to have already been in progress. While the story, and context may unfold in later episodes, the first episode was not compelling enough to sustain interest.