Foreign Cinema: 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
Directed by Cristian Mungiu
Released January 25, 2008
This film is best summarized by comparing it to a description of what was originally intended for the seventh season of the real-time television series “24”: to atone for all his sins, Jack Bauer heads to Africa to do charity work. Much of this film plays out over uninterrupted spans of thirty of forty minutes, and the result is about as thrilling as watching Jack Bauer build houses in real time. Many extended conversations without breaks cannot sell themselves – but it feels like they are supposed to. That said, it is still a very tough and disturbing film to get through. The film as a whole, while it tries to capture a snapshot of a few hours of one day, drags on far too long and could have been trimmed and reworked to beget a far more effective film deserving of the praise it has received.
C
1 comment:
I am thrilled to find out that there is another living human being who did not get the "HOOPLA" surrounding this film. When I started reading all of the 4-star reviews and praise this film, I thought I completely missed something.
This film was very difficult to sit through and very unevenly paced - thank you for making me feel a little bit smarter now that I read your review.
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