Romanian | SpoutBlog

Telluride 2007: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

By Karina Longworth posted 2 years ago

Palme D’Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is such a marvel of cinematic naturalism that as the film plays, director Cristian Mungiu’s hand almost seems to be invisible. I’m certainly not the first to heap critical praise on the camerawork (mostly long takes of un-fussy tableau presented in hands-off medium shots), the acting (as unpretentious as high-quality improv, but with the studied intensity injected by the crutch of a stable script), the pitch-perfect period production design (as the Variety review put it, the film is full of “muted cement tones, capturing the crushing ugliness of life in the Eastern bloc”) and, above all, the incredible suspense created by Mungiu’s refusal to foreshadow or explain. It all adds up to a portrait of a political situation that transforms even the most mundane personal activities into a negotiation process, ranging from frustrating to humiliating, to downright horrifying.

I’m fascinated by the dynamic between the film’s two female leads, so much so that I think I need to see 4 Months a second time before writing a full review; luckily, I’ll be able to do just that next month at the New York Film Festival.

In the meantime, check out Paul’s interview with Mungiu. Paul met the director at Telluride’s opening night feed, and the two talked about 4 Months and why there is a larger renaissance happening in Romanian film right now.
Cristian Mungiu interview

Cristian Mingiu interview [3:38m]: Play Now | Download

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Festivals, Telluride 2007

Telluride followup with Paul

By posted 3 years ago

The Spout guys returned from Telluride exhausted but full of stories and commentary. To help them sum up their experience I asked them to give me these things:

5 favorite films
4 interesting people
3 favorite spots
2 memorable moments
1 way the festival changed you

Today, Paul fills in the blanks. Make sure to read his posts for more meat. More to come soon from the other guys.

5 favorite films:

- Day Night Day Night (check out my post and podcast)
- Maldonne (I wrote a post)
- Little Children (I talked to the director, Todd Field, and made a podcast, and I wrote a post)
- The Great Expectations program: The Tube with a Hat and Marilena De La P7 (both Romanian)
- Lonesome (with a live freaking orchestra!)

4 interesting people:

- Julia Loktev (director of Day Night Day Night–loved her Q&A after the film, her ability to articulate)
- Quan (a writer I enjoyed discussing Dodsworth with)
- JP Gorin (the guest director of the festival–everyone loved his saucy “Frenchness”)
- An old Texan who didn’t know the phrase “film buff” but knew everything about films from the first part of the 20th Century

3 favorite spots:

- the West End Tavern (and their fried foods and spaten)
- the Galaxy Theater (a gym converted into a huge theater with weird Galileo-like constructions everywhere)
- the covered waiting area outside the Galaxy

2 highlights:

- Arriving in town and realizing that Telluride is everything it’s built up to be
- Seeing/discovering Maldonne, an amazing old film that’s been overlooked for nearly 80 years

1 way you see things differently:

- Experiencing a film is so much better when you’re looking for what’s memorable rather than what’s “good.”

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Telluride 2006