R.M.N. (Cristian Mungiu)

[wilder]

A few days before Christmas, having quit his job in Germany, Matthias returns to his multi-ethnic Transylvanian village. He wishes to involve himself more in the education of his son, Rudi, left for too long in the care of his mother, Ana, and to rid the boy of the unresolved fears that have taken hold of him. He's preoccupied with his old father, Otto and also eager to see his ex-lover, Csilla. When a few new workers are hired at the small factory that Csilla manages, the peace of the community is disturbed, underlying fears grip the adults, and frustrations, conflicts and passions erupt through the thin veneer of apparent understanding and calm

Written and Directed by Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days)
Release Date - April 28, 2023

indescribably brilliant. intense, mind blowing, etc. i regret doubting for the first hour that it wouldn't go as far or even further as Mungiu's other films. His most didactic but he alone is smart enough to pull something this conceptually dense off. one of the only things i've seen get to the level of Lore Segal's "The Reverse Bug" in terms of engineering a narrative to illustrate an ethical debate.

Chekhov's gun has seldom fallen into hands as steady and menacing hands as in Cristian Mungiu's poorly titled, expertly staged "R.M.N.," which finds the elite Romanian auteur extrapolating the personal tensions that gripped his previous work (e.g., "Beyond the Hills" and the Palme d'Or-winning "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days") across an entire Transylvanian village. The result is a socioeconomic crucible that carefully shifts its weight to the same foot that Mungiu always loves to rest on your throat; a slightly over-broad story of timeless xenophobia baked full of local flavor and set right on the cusp of a specific moment in the 21st century.

Pulling harder and harder at the tension between complex socioeconomic forces and the simple human emotions they inspire, "R.M.N." masterfully spins an all too familiar migration narrative into an atavistic passion play about the antagonistic effects of globalization on the European Union.

[wilder]

In theaters April 28, 2023