Trois kilomètres jusqu'à la fin du monde

The film revolves around a simple plot but intricately weaves each element to create a compelling story set in rural Romania, specifically in the beautiful Danube Delta.

However, the soothing and picturesque landscapes conceal ugly human stories. One character humorously criticizes his fellow countrymen, saying it's a beautiful country but with not-so-nice people.

The film explores rural Romania's general attitude towards homosexuality, interweaving themes of corruption, superficiality, over-religiousness, and power abuse. These elements paint an authentic and shockingly real image of Romanian society in the 2020s (and in Europe!).

The filmmaking is masterful and never excessive. One of the most appreciable aspects of this film is the director's ability to create a powerful work without resorting to over-the-top methods, grandiloquent camera angles, or epic music.

The film is exactly what it needs to be, contrasting with many recent cinematic works that tend to overdo it to impress. It's a reminder that, in the end, the simplest meals, made with the best ingredients, are often the best. Just as the best chefs are identified by their ability to create exceptional basic dishes, Emanuel Parvu achieves wonders with a simple yet powerful film.

"3 Kilometers Until the End of the World" is a must-see for those who crave good cinema as much as they crave a good book on a Sunday afternoon.

It's extremely difficult to put into words what I experienced when watching this film and I found it hard to breathe for a while when I left the theatre.

Unfortunately, we know about various versions of domestic violence, and it's hard to rank which type is worse than another, but when parents are violent with their children, physically, psychologically, verbally, it causes tremendous damage that can't be undone.

The film depicts beautiful rural Romania and horrible ignorance and cruelty of the people who live there and really believe they know things when they don't. The most powerful scenes, in my opinion, are those of performed exorcism and a conversation between the social worker and the priest.

Hopefully, by watching this one, somebody will learn to be more honest, open, sensitive and compassionate.

With 'Three Kilometers to the End of the World' (the original Romanian title is 'Trei kilometri pâna la capatul lumii', director and co-writer Emanuel Pârvu continues one of the main themes of his previous film 'Marocco' (or 'Mikado') - the confrontation of teenagers with a world in which they do not fit. The question he asks in this film seems to be not whether teenagers are ready for life and the world of adults, but rather whether the world is ready to accept them as they are. Unlike his previous film, whose story happens in Bucharest, the story in his new film, which was presented in competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, takes place in one of the most isolated locations in Romania - a village in the Danube Delta, separated or connected, depending on how we look at it, from the rest of the world only by water. The waters surrounding the village are for the inhabitants a means of transportation, a source of income, a border that isolates them from the world, but also a possible path to freedom. It is an opportunity for the screenwriters (co-screenwriter is Miruna Berescu) and the director not only to immerse themselves in a new social environment, but also to use the geographical isolation and the description of the closed rural community as amplifiers of the drama that unfolds before the viewers. 'Three Kilometers to the End of the World' is a mature and solid film, which will captivate the viewers who will come to watch it, including those who are not fans of the genres to which it belongs.

The Dragoi family works hard and is not doing very well economically, being indebted to the richest man in the village. A large part of their efforts are aimed at keeping their son, Adi, a high school student in the closest large city, Tulcea, in school, with the hope that he will be admitted to the naval school. The not-so-happy routine of their lives is interrupted by a violent incident. The boy, who came for summer vacation, is badly beaten one night, when leaving the disco. At first, the family suspects that the aggression is related to the parents' financial debt, but soon they discovers that the reason is related to a personal secret: the boy is gay. Once the secret is exposed, everyone around him tries to 'correct' him: the parents, the police investigating the case, the priest. The closed society of the village, which can be seen as a scale reduction of the entire Romanian society, does not easily accept those who are different, even if they are born in their midst.

The story is told with a remarkable fluency and with the economy of means inherited from the Romanian New Wave, which now already past the age of majority. Emanuel Pârvu collaborates in this film again with the cinematographer Silviu Stavila. They create long shots, often static or with minimal camera movements. The script is very well written, with dialogues that expose the way the characters react to events that turn their world upside down. Many of the feelings are, however, even better represented by looks. The teenager hardly speaks at all, verbal communication with his parents, the police, and the priest is not possible, and his personality is more expressive through silences. Like other directors with acting experience, Emanuel Pârvu picks the best cast and works very closely with his actors. Bogdan Dumitrache and Laura Vasiliu appear in the roles of the parents, both excellent, but the most remarkable creation is that of Ciprian Chiujdea in the role of Adi. An interesting role is also played by the well-known actor Adrian Titieni, the priest who tries to rationalize his brutal intervention in the young man's life. I think that viewers will be left with 'Three Kilometers to the End of the World' with the look like a cry of pain of a young man who can be a symbol of a category of people but also of a generation that claims the right to be different from those around them.

I was completely speechless when the movie ended. Throughout the entire film, I felt as if I were in that small Romanian village. The movie's realistic approach is truly extraordinary. The storytelling is impressive-you start watching and simply cannot stop until the very end. You don't even realize how quickly time passes.

The story follows the harsh struggles of a young boy in his village due to his sexual orientation. The film perfectly depicts how everything-even his own family-turns against him once his sexuality becomes known. A gay boy is forced to stand alone against the silent brutality of the heterosexual status quo.

The direction, screenplay, and acting are all marvelous. The director has no reason to be modest-he has created a masterpiece.

I want to start by saying that I found the ending to be dissapointing, but that this movie isn't about the ending. This movie is about showing a reality some people are living, it's about the struggles of a gay teenager, living in rural romania, in a village with a very religious and traditionalistic population.

It shows the way most people in rural romania think about homosexuality, it shows how lgbtqia+ individuals are treated, and it shows how institutions discriminate against minorities, specifically the lgbtqia+.

Adi is a relatable character, he's an ordinary teenager, he isn't portrayed stereotypically, he's hiding who he is from his family knowing he won't receive acceptance, but after his parents find out, things go from bad to worse. And this isn't just a character, this is a glimpse into what some teenagers in romania experienced. The whole plot of this movie is centred on that, on what does the lgbtqia+ youth looks like in conservative, religious, homophobic families.