European Films

Fulger is a freelance film journalist and critic who writes for cultural magazines as well as for specialized websites and blogs. His interests range from the new Romanian cinema to Italian films and from Surrealism to Postmodernism and kitsch. He has been living in Bucharest for ten years but he loves to travel, especially to film festivals. His two choices are very wordy titles: the recent Cum mi-am petrecut sfârsitul lumii (The Way I Spent the End of the World) from Catalin Mitulescu and Radu Jude's upcoming debut feature Cea mai fericita fata din lume (The Happiest Girl in the World).

Cum mi-am petrecut sfârsitul lumii (The Way I Spent the End of the World) 

1989, the last year of communism in Romania, is seen through the eyes of seventeen-year-old Eva, who dreams of escaping the country, and her seven-year-old brother Lalalilu, who dreams of overthrowing the dictator Ceausescu so that his beloved sister won't have to escape the country anymore.

This very personal feature debut of Catalin Mitulescu offers a touching coming-of-age story, placed in a dramatic social and political context (the communist era is recreated with remarkable accuracy) and punctuated by beautiful dream interludes. Set in suburban Bucharest, where the director himself spent his childhood and adolescence, the film also has a bittersweet nostalgic mood, hankering after a golden age that never existed elsewhere than in the world of remembrance.

After 2005's Ryna by Ruxandra Zenide, Dorotheea Petre gives yet another powerful performance, portraying an introvert and unsubmissive teenage girl; the role of Eva brought her the first Cannes award ever received by a Romanian actor (the special prize of the Un Certain Regard section). 

Cea mai fericita fata din lume (The Happiest Girl in the World)

This is the first feature film from the Radu Jude, the director of Lampa cu caciula (The Tube with a Hat) from 2006, the most awarded short film in the history of Romanian cinema.

Delia Fratila, an eighteen-year-old girl from a small Romanian town, is the lucky winner of a beverage company's promotional campaign: with only three juice labels, she won an expensive car. The happy girl, accompanied by her parents, has to come down to the capital in order to shoot a testimonial video -- an advertising spot showing Delia to the whole country as proof that the refreshments company keeps its promises.

On their way to Bucharest, a family conflict arises: the parents want to sell the new car and to start a small business, while the girl would like to keep the car. Many problems arise on the shooting set as well, but in the end everyone is happy. Or at least, they all seem happy with what they've got. The film, based on a real story, is a tragicomedy about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances and about family ties and what lies beneath them.