Romanian film review – Counting down to Christmas
<h4>After all the election-related turmoil of the past weeks, things are not much clearer but the mood is less agitated. Feels less frivolous now to seek some escapism and think of the holidays. I certainly couldn't focus much on films a week ago, much less writing about them, and now I can return to this column with less distractions and after more hours of sleep.</h4>
<p>So here we go, a recommendation of movies you can catch in the days leading up to Christmas.</p>
<p>Bucharest is doing well, as usual. Cinema <a href="https://eventbook.ro/hall/cinema-elvire-popesco?page=2">Elvire Popescu</a> has a particularly good schedule for these weeks. Bogdan Mureșanu’s <a href="https://www.romania-insider.com/romanian-film-review-new-year-bieff-oct-2024"> <em>Anul Nou care n-a fost/ The New Year That Never Came</em></a><em> </em>is still going strong after a very successful run in theatres, and with its focus on the Revolution of 1989 it is such a fitting show for December. I was happy to see Bogdan Theodor Olteanu’s <a href="https://www.romania-insider.com/romanian-film-review-bucharest-night-taximetristi-feb-2023"><em>Taximetriști</em></a> screened again, a funny, irreverent ride through Bucharest at night, mostly set in (well) a taxi. Among the many Christmas releases, many of them for children, there is a classic with more bite, Charles Laughton’s fantastically dark, tense, much-quoted 1955 noir <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048424/"><em>The</em> <em>Night of the Hunter</em></a>. At the opposite scale of threat and doom, but no less clever, is another classic, and of my absolute all-time favourites, Ernst Lubitsch’s perfect Christmas rom-com <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033045/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_the%2520shop"><em>The Shop Around the Corner</em></a> (1940). Fun fact, it got remade in 1998 by Nora Ephron with <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128853/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_7_nm_1_in_0_q_youve"><em>You’ve Got Mail</em></a>, a respectable pic in its own right, but the original is superior and superb, and Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan are the pairing of comedy dreams.    </p>
<p><a href="https://cinemaeuropa.ro/">Cinema Europa</a> is hosting weekends of holiday films. This one it’s a Harry Potter marathon while the next brings wholesome comfort classic and ultimate family pic <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039628/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_4_tt_7_nm_0_in_0_q_miracle%2520on%2520"><em>Miracle on 34th Street</em></a> (George Seaton, 1947) and the mother of all Christmas action movies, John McTiernan’s 1988 <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095016/"><em>Die Hard</em></a>. What a mix!</p>
<p><em>Miracle on 34th Street</em> seems to be everywhere these days, and rightfully so. I am also happy it's the original and not the 1994 eponymous remake. You can also catch it at <a href="https://www.cinemavictoria.ro/">Victoria cinema</a> in Cluj and at <a href="https://cinematimis-tm.ro/">Timiș</a> in Timișoara.</p>
<p>Here they also show Justine Triet’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17009710/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_anatom"><em>Anatomy of a Fall</em></a> (at cinema <a href="https://cinemavictoria-tm.ro/">Victoria</a>), one of the best recent thrillers, and anything but a cozy watch. But it is set in the mountains in winter and I am glad if this was the reason to programme now a film that leaves you with a bucketload of (moral) dilemmas.  </p>
<p>Finally, at the end I am making a full circle and returning to <em>Anul Nou care n-a fost/ The New Year That Never Came</em>. The drama is also showing in Timișoara but not without a discussion. On 15 December, <a href="https://cinematimis-tm.ro/">Timiș</a> is organising a talk about the passing of 35 years since the Revolution and their perception today. And since Timișoara started the protests that eventually toppled the communist regime in mid-December of 1989, it is the best place to invite everyone to join the debate.</p>
<p><em>By Ioana Moldovan, columnist, </em><a href="mailto:ioana.moldovan@romania-insider.com"><em>ioana.moldovan@romania-insider.com</em></a></p>
<p><em>(Photo info &amp; source: detail from The Shop Around the Corner poster by <a href="https://www.dreamstime.com/viersen-germany-may-shop-around-corner-film-cinema-poster-detail-german-version-margaret-sullavan-james-stewart-image347410404">Ralf Liebhold/ Dreamstime</a>)</em><strong><em> </em></strong></p>
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