4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days

4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, 2 DAYS
ARTIFICIAL EYE
RELEASED 11 January 2008
A universal hit at the 2007 Cannes Festival, ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days’ is the first in a planned trilogy called ‘Tales from the Golden Age’ – a subjective history of communism in Romania told through its urban legends. The project’s aim is to talk about that period with no direct reference to communism but only through different stories focused on personal options in a time of misfortunes that people had to live like normal times.
Beginning in a Romanian college dorm in 1987, roommates Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) and Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) talk about the coming day. Gabita is incredibly nervous about something, but Otilia stays calm and goes out for cigarettes to see her boyfriend. Later, she books a room at an hotel, where both girls meet Mr. Bebe (Vlad Ivanov), an illegal abortionist. What follows is depressing, gripping, and note-perfect.
It’s an incredible film that will scorch it’s visuals onto your memory, it’s certainly the foreign film of 2008. Shot in long, lingering takes, Anamaria Marinca gives the performance of a lifetime. Director Cristian Mungiu has just put himself into the top tier of European film talent.
FIVE OUT OF FIVE