4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

I'm in awe with 'realist' films, especially the one that actually works such as this one. In the climax track shot of walking through the city at night, how do they stage all the noise, the dog, the cars, the everything? It's crazy that i'm super impressed by how organic and realistic it is. Which is odd, because usually i go to movies to see how clever a filmmaker can be with twisting reality. But this was clearly magic to have been able to present a simple act (walking) in a simple composition (face dead center), with all of the familiar elements of nighttime in the city, and brought it all together to heighten the experience of this girl carrying what it seems like, all the worry in the world. It brought me back an almost childish/immediate feeling of being afraid walking alone at night, but of course compared to film, i've never walked alone at night with that much at stake.

But this is where the movie is most successful, the film presents you with people living in a type of harsh system that i can't imagine here living in the states. But the feelings and emotions that are portrayed are universal, the feeling of being young and afraid, feeling of sneaking behind the law, risking something for your friend , feeling of regret. And in this film the moral compass is clear, they know the system is unjust and they do things out of love and care for one another.

But for us here in the states, where government and law has seeped itself into everything, where we don't sometimes realized our own systematic oppression, how much of our sense of right/wrong is driven by government and the law? how much of it is actually driven by love and passion for real people?

Excellent, engrossing movie. Shot, as far as I could tell, with one skillfully deployed camera, every composition had to have that camera perfectly placed. It's no mean achievement to have risen to this challenge so well. There's one scene in particular, set at a birthday dinner, which is breathtakingly well done with the camera static and the actors brilliantly positioned around it, managing in spite of this limitation to not only give all the necessary information, but also to do so with the maximum emotional intensity.

The subject matter doesn't make for comfortable viewing. But it is essential to engage with it. This film tackles it head on. Don't miss it.

I was fortunate to see this film during the TIFF last week. With Palm d'Or behind the title, my expectation was high and I was amazingly satisfied.

As an audience in TIFF, we also got to have a Q&A session with Cristian, the director and it was apparent to me that he is a very intelligent man. Everything that was in the movie was well thought and planned. There is no accidents about this movie.

There are quite a few unclear scenes. However after, the director answered a few questions for the audience and I got to understand his point of view. It was clear to me what he was trying to show us. There is no wasted scenes or filler during the whole show.

There is a particular scene where many don't understand why it is so long and meaningless. Many viewers got frustrated, irritated and restless after a while. But that is exactly what the director wants us to feel. He plays with his audience through his film. What a brilliant idea ! For those who has seen it, will understand. Your feeling is exactly what Otilia was feelings.

This is not an anti-abortion movie as the director said. There is no political statement. It is just a daily life of a few Romanians during the period and you can feel it through this movie.

For all other foreign film fan, this is an absolute must see for this year.

It's 1987 Romania under the brutal Ceausescu communist dictatorship. Gabita (Laura Vasliu) is more than 4 Months pregnant and she's desperate for a highly illegal abortion. Her friend Otilia Mihartescu (Anamaria Marinca) searches all day setting up the abortion with Mr. Bebe. He starts complaining about them not following his instructions and demands more money which the girls don't have. Then he wants sex from both women as payment. After the abortion, Otilia has to go to her boyfriend's family dinner while Gabita waits in the hotel for the abortion to take hold.

This Romanian indie is done in long extended shots. Some of them are slow but mostly, they are very engaging. Some of them are harrowing. It takes its time to get to the point of the movie. The world in this film is a cold hard place. The style of the film only adds to its harshness. There is no pretty camera tricks or beautiful shots. It's a bleak film of a bleak world. The acting is natural and stark. The movie follows Anamaria Marinca. She is mostly unemotionally as she quietly suffers the indignity of Bebe. She shows that she has a good range and she's compelling as the lead. Laura Vasliu's role is a minor one where she can be more emotional. The movie is unrelentingly in its casual bleakness.

Winner of last years Palme d'Or this Romanian film set in the eighties and is a cross between Richard Linklater's 2001 film 'Tape', in that the majority of the action takes place in one room between three central characters and Mike Leigh's 2004 film 'Vera Drake' in that its central theme is illegal abortion. It is a film about the human condition, trust, betrayal, the extremes people have to go to sometimes and the consequences that follow certain actions. It has two great performances from the college roommates Otilia and Gabita from their introduction to us as they make plans for a trip through to the grizzly outcome that concludes the film. The setting is grim and the bleached out film stock adds to the jittery camera work and gives an uneasy feeling throughout, instantly you are transported to a time where people barter with tic tacs, cigarettes and powdered milk and the promise of sugar is a dream to many and a reality to only a few. Gabita's predicament and subsequent journey both physically and mentally are what drives the film but its shown mainly through the eyes of her friend and roommate Otilia who as well as making and carrying out the arrangements has to make some startling sacrifices and ones that she will have memory of forever, as will you the audience long after the film has finished. Although not an easy watch and considering the subject matter not something you can say you 'enjoyed' it is none the less a brilliant piece of film-making, subtle and emotive with very real character studies. A brutal in your face look at a bleak time in history, how a leader destroyed the economy of a country and what that did to everyday life and a reminder of how far behind the rest of us Eastern Europe was before the fall of the Iron curtain and particularly Romania before the Revolution of 1989.