This weekend also features Romanian films that can be watched in the Bucharest cinemas; moreover, we could not skip our monthly film recommendations which can be seen online, in the comfort of our homes.

Movie theatres:

1. Soldiers. Story from Ferentari (dir. Ivana Mladenovic; comedy, drama). The film is based on Adrian Șchiop’s novel and tells the story of Adi, a 40-year-old anthropologist, who recently got dumped by his girlfriend and moved to Ferentari, to write a study on manele music. There he meets Alberto, a poor Roma ex-convict, who promises Adi to help him meet the singers. Soon enough, the two begin a playful romance in which Adi feeds Alberto with improbable plans of escaping poverty, while Alberto feeds Adi with phrases of love. When the money is gone, they realise that they are captive in a flat and their casual affair grew into love.

The film can be seen at Eforie Cinema on Friday, Elvire Popescu Cinema on Saturday and on Sunday you can catch it in both cinemas mentioned before.

2. The Dead Nation (dir. Radu Jude; documentary). There has been a lot of talk about The Dead Nation, and we can totally understand why. The film is a documentary-essay, which shows a stunning collection of photographs made by Costică Axinte from a Romanian small town in the 30’s and 40’s. The soundtrack, composed mostly from excerpts taken from the diary of a Jewish doctor from the same era, using Radu Jude’s voice, shows us what the photographs do not: the rising of the anti-Semitism and eventually a harrowing depiction of the Romanian Holocaust, a topic rarely discussed in the contemporary Romanian society.

Those who have not seen the documentary yet, still have a chance to do it on Thursday, February 8^th, at Elvire Popesco Cinema, starting at 6:30 PM.

3. Call me by your name (dir. Luca Guadagnino; drama), one of the most awaited films in the Romanian cinemas, has four nominations at the 2018 Academy Awards (including Best Film and Best Leading Actor), three at the 2018 Golden Globes and other four nominations at 2018 BAFTA Awards. The film has a splendid cinematography and follows the story of Elio, an 80s teenager, who plans to spend his summer holidays in the fabulous villa of his parents in the north of Italy. But the visit of his father’s research assistant will trigger unexpected feelings. Call me by your name is an open-minded film about first love, skillfully created based on the novel of the same name.

Fun facts:

• The entire film was shot with a single 35mm lens.
• In order to play Elio’s character, Timothée Chalamet learned to speak Italian and to play the piano.
• On its premiere night, Call me by your name received a ten-minute standing ovation, which was the longest ever at the New York Film Festival.

Recommendations for home film sessions:

1. We start the online film recommendations category with the latest Cinepub premiere: Europolis (dir. Cornel Gheorghiță, drama). Awarded with the Special Jury Mention at Montréal Festival des Films du Monde in 2010, Europolis is one of those rare Romanian films which creates a powerful atmosphere of magic realism. The film is inspired by the fantastic prose of Mircea Eliade and shows a ‘Vitoria Lipan who moves on with her life’, as the remarkable Adriana Trandafir describes her character.

The film can be watched online for free on Cinepub and can be found here.

2. Perfect Health (dir. Anca Damian, drama). Andrei (Anghel Damian) is a young lawyer with mixed feelings about his father Toma (Vlad Ivanov), who is a respected judge. The suspicious death of his father will determine Andrei to start a personal investigation, recreating his last day. This investigation slowly becomes a journey of maturity because Andrei will come to define his position towards his life’s role model.

Perfect Health can be seen on Saturday, February 10^th, on HBO and HBO HD, starting at 10:05 PM.

3. Toni Erdmann (dir. Maren Ade; comedy, drama) received the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2016 Cannes, five awards at the 2016 European Film Academy and had several nominations at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and BAFTA. The film briefly presents Peter Simonischek playing a father who comes after his daughter (Sandra Huller) in Bucharest to teach her about humour.

You can catch the film on Sunday, February 11^th, on Cinemax 2 and Cinemax 2 HD, at 3:50 PM.

Romina Banu

Photographer and editor; she co-founded Dissolved Magazine together with Melissa. For Films in Frame she gathers film and TV series recommendations for lazy weekends and she writes about interesting projects from the film industry. Other than that, she likes traveling, chilling with her cats and sleeping.