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An imperfect, attention-grabbing debut feature from Romanian actor-turned-director Alina Grigore, “Blue Moon” is named for a song, though not the one you might expect: a somewhat mordant local lullaby, sung late in proceedings, at a point when any hope of rest has long deserted its frazzled protagonist. Still, it’s impossible to approach the film without that Rodgers & Hart lonely-hearts standard running through your head — which, accidentally or otherwise, turns out to be an effective bit of misdirection. For the more time we spend with 22-year-old Irina (Ioana Chitu), the clearer it becomes that what she’s missing isn’t a love of her own or someone to care for: What she really, really needs is just to be left alone for longer than five minutes at a time.

That’s easier said than done in what turns out to be a . Whenever Irina tries to escape the noise, it...

"She's nothing like her grandmother... Queen Victoria." Samuel Goldwyn Films has released the US trailer for a Romanian historical epic called Queen Marie, originally known as Queen Marie of Romania. This opened in Romania back in 2019 and has been playing around Europe, but is only now getting a US release on VOD this spring. Devastated by the First World War and plunged into political controversy, Romania's every hope accompanies its queen on her mission to Paris to lobby for international recognition of its great unification at the 1919 peace talks. Starring Romanian actress Roxana Lupu as "Queen Marie of Romania", and a full cast including Daniel Plier, Anghel Damian, Adrian Titieni, Iulia Verdes, Patrick Drury, Caroline Loncq, Iulia Verdes, Philippe Caroit, and Emil Mandanac. This has an epic look and feel, but it also seems a bit drab and melodramatic, lost in all the historical accuracy more than the storytelling. Here's...