★ 7 / 10
It seems like, no matter where anyone goes
Brent Marchant
It seems like, no matter where anyone goes in the world these days, there are bound to be long-simmering disagreements of different kinds that stubbornly defy…
It seems like, no matter where anyone goes in the world these days, there are bound to be long-simmering disagreements of different kinds that stubbornly defy resolution. The causes vary, too, from disproportionate economics to ethnic prejudice to social inequality to political squabbling to religious feuds, recurring dust-ups that transpire either alone or in combination with one another. And these conditions, in turn, generally evoke an array of responses, with some fueled by violence and spiteful name calling, others characterized by despondency and despair, and others still driven by well-meaning compassion that, regrettably, often faces an uphill battle to gain traction. But is this incessant discord any way to live? And is the routine neurotic handwringing it causes something to be tolerated? Those are among the questions posed in this latest offering from writer-director Radu Jude, a quirky but introspective look at life in Cluj, Romania, the country’s second largest city, located in the heart of the legendary province of Transylvania. This long-disputed territory sits in an area where the nation’s ethnic Hungarian and Romanian populations overlap, constituencies that have historically clashed with one another, with many everyday residents woefully caught in the crossfire as they try to figure out why life plays out as it does, a condition that many of us can no doubt relate to no matter where we may live. This conundrum plays out here through the experiences of Orsolya (Eszter Tompa), a former law professor-turned-court bailiff responsible for serving legal orders, such as eviction notices to squatters living in the city’s many older buildings, most of which are being rapidly snapped by developers looking to construct new housing and luxury hotels like the Kontinental. Orsolya struggles earnestly to be helpful and understanding to those down on their luck. But, when legally sanctioned leniency runs out, she’s compelled to enforce the law, as happens in the case of Ion (Gabriel Spahiu), an aging former athlete who’s fallen prey to the ravages of alcoholism, gambling addiction and homelessness. However, when hopelessness prompts Ion to commit suicide, Orsolya is wracked with guilt. She feels responsible for his death, even though she was simply abiding by the law. The event launches her into a fit of soul-searching, sending her on a quest for absolution and meaning that leads to a series of conversations with anyone who will listen, including a friend (Oana Mardare), an Orthodox priest (Serban Pavlu), a former student from her teaching days (Adonia Tanta) and her curmudgeonly prejudiced mother (Annámaria Biluska), among others. Admittedly, the narrative can become rather circular at times as she repeatedly recounts the story of Ion’s demise, but the wide-ranging insights that emerge during the dialogues with her confidantes present different and unique spins on her circumstances and life at large in contemporary Romania, often punctuated with humor that’s dark, plainspoken and “earthy.” While “Kontinental” is arguably the filmmaker’s most “conventional” entry in his cinematic repertoire, the picture nevertheless skillfully incorporates its share of his signature off-the-wall situational humor, too – crazy cinematic segments that make one wonder how in blazes he came up with these ideas in the first place. Not everything in this release works, of course, but there are certainly more than a few moments of utterly inspired brilliance that successfully keep viewers curiously captivated, sequences reminiscent of scenes from some of the director’s other earlier absurdist offerings like “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” (2021) and “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” (2023). Jude’s films are definitely an acquired taste, to say the least, but they’re rarely dull, and, this time out, he serves up a lot to think about on the side as well.
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★ 7 / 10
It's important to talk about this things, but the movie could have been better
lilianaoana
Very political, very in your face, very Radu Jude.A woman suffering from a bad case of PTSD searches for comfort in the wrong places.Riddled with social…
Very political, very in your face, very Radu Jude.A woman suffering from a bad case of PTSD searches for comfort in the wrong places.Riddled with social commentary to the point of becoming a documentary of life in Cluj-Napoca, one of the biggest and wealthiest Romanian cities, an IT hub and currently even more expensive than the capital. Perfect example of the chasm between the wealthy and the poor, but also bubbling social tensions between Romanians and the Hungarian minority, a situation depicted at length through the lead character's experience.However, the treatment is very on the nose and so it doesn't hit as well as the director's other socially-aware movies. The dialogue is basically throwing ideas and issues and topics at us and although we do talk about this things on a regular basis here it feels a little too contrived.
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★ 8 / 10
dromasca
Radu Jude's films intentionally take their viewers, especially those in Romania, out of their comfort zone. Whether it's about national history, its…
Radu Jude's films intentionally take their viewers, especially those in Romania, out of their comfort zone. Whether it's about national history, its repercussions in the present, or current events, the director and screenwriter place a mirror in front of the viewers in which they see themselves, those close to them, and those who surround them. Any mirror is a reflection of reality, but mirrors can also distort. They magnify some details, shrink or hide others, offering a processed image of the world in their field of vision. This is what happens with 'Kontinental '25', the film that premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and is now starting its journey on screens in Romania. Through the title, Radu Jude ambitiously places his film, and perhaps not only this film, under the tutelage of Roberto Rossellini. The stars, aligned or misaligned, gave me the opportunity to be present at one of the first screenings today.Orsolya, the heroine of the film, is a bailiff in Cluj. The first scenes of the film do not show her, however, but Ion, a former athlete, who has become a ruin of a human being, a homeless and a beggar, rummaging through the city's garbage to fill his bags with recyclables from the sales of he barely survives. Orsolya, together with the gendarmes, executes an eviction order for Ion, an order postponed because she had already been benevolent and tried to help Ion in the past. Desperate, Ion asks for 20 minutes to arrange his affairs and commits suicide. Orsolya, although she is not at fault and the incident cannot have legal repercussions for her, feels guilty. In addition, Romanian nationalist circles in the press and on social networks try to create a diversion case out of this story. The event shakes the fragile balance of her world, already based on compromises. She is Hungarian and married to a Romanian officer. Her mother is a Hungarian nationalist, but she converted to Orthodoxy in order to integrate into her husband's family. She lives in a privileged area of the city undergoing spectacular development, but her profession puts her in contact with the most disadvantaged of the citizens left behind in neo-capitalist Romania. The film is a succession of dialogues between Orsolya and several people: a friend involved in social activities, her mother, a former student, her priest, in which the heroine tries to find peace and ease her conscience. Is there a real solution to these turmoils, or the only alternative is to retreat back into compromise?Screenwriter Radu Jude manages to catch in this story many of the contradictions that simmer under the spectacular development of the Transylvanian capital into a technological center and a modern European city: the traumas of history and nationalist resentments, the differences in social status and economic situation between those who have succeeded and those who were left behind by the system, an imperfect political and judicial apparatus. Film director Radu Jude alternates the fiction built through a succession of episodes captured by the Ozu-style fixed camera, with images of the Cluj of contrasts that recall his experimental films that explored the past based on archival photographs. The fictional part is supported by an excellent team of actors built around the main heroine played by Eszter Tompa. The combination works very well and the effect is assertive and disturbing, as the filmmaker intended. If it weren't like that, it wouldn't be a Radu Jude film.
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6.7/10
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The English Subs you can find on opensubtitles work perfectly with the 1080p file