Not since the movie ‘Old Joy’ had I seen such broad spectrum of praise on the Metacritic Website for a movie that I had never of. ‘Old Joy’ unfortunately was terrible, and I don’t give a damn what 90% of the film critics across this country had to say, but that was some garbage, pure and simple. Then I see a Metacritic score of 97 for this film ‘4 Months, 3 weeks and 2 Days’ which means that every critic of note that has seen this film pretty much awarded it with their highest rating with maybe a couple giving it an A-. We’re talking about a film rated higher than Godfather or whatever other semi neo classic you can think of, so despite my terrible experience in watching ‘Old Joy’ which was truly a massive let down, I decided to trek on down to the art theater and give ‘4 Months’ a try. Though this film out of Romania might not be the best film ever, as its gaudy rating might suggest, it is still damned good.

Our film takes in 1987 Romania, the soviet block nations are crumbling but they haven’t yet fallen during this time and Romania is still under the brutal rule of Dictator Nicolae Ceausecue. This is merely the backdrop as the political climate of Romania plays little in the story with the exception that getting an abortion is probably one of the more difficult things to get done in this small nation. Our protagonist is Otilla (Anamaria Marnica) who is a busy college student living in the co-ed co-op dorms trying to do twenty things at once, with the most important task of the day being assisting her best friend Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) secure a hotel room for a highly illegal medical procedure.

In between the incredibly hectic running back and forth that Otilla has do in preparation for her friend, all without the use of an automobile, she also has a needy boyfriend in Adi (Alexandru Protecean) that she has to deal with, a dinner that she has

no desire to attend with Adi’s parents, a meeting with Mr. Bebe (Vlad Ivanov), the unsavory, incredibly angry dude performing the procedure and not to mention Gabita herself who isn’t all that helpful considering it’s her who needs this thing done. And that’s pretty much it as far as a description goes.

First let tell you that in the history of good buddies you can count on, Otilla from ‘4 Months, 3 weeks and 2 days’ probably qualifies as the best buddy in the history of movies. For real. Initially when one sees a description about this film you wonder, or at least I wondered, what is the draw in watching a film that takes place during 1987, a relatively unremarkable time in history, and concerns some young woman’s attempt to get an abortion in a country that most of us know very little about? To that I suppose there is no draw as even the best Hollywood Pitch Man wouldn’t be able to scrounge up twenty bucks to fund a picture like this. Which is why this film is about as diametrically polar to any film coming of Hollywood that I’ve seen in recent years. Director Christian Mingiu takes his camera and places it smack in the middle of these characters lives and places them in situations that feel so real and so authentic that it’s almost if we’re watching a reality TV show. In a film with sparse dialog and very little action Mingui has created was almost feels like thriller in the fact there is so much tension permeating throughout his film. How he managed to do this without the use of music, fancy camera moves or forced dramatic sequences is beyond me, and if I knew how he pulled it off I’d be making movies myself.

Of course the performances of Anamaria Marinca as the resourceful, determined and passionate Otilla drove this picture. Marinca gave a very personal, soulful performance and has a face that has expressions that says things that words simply can’t convey. Vlad Ivanov gave an especially chilling portrayal of our underground abortion doctor, but not because he’s particularly evil, because he seems to have absolutely no soul. A man who would slit your throat just as soon as he shook your hand, a man who believes that pretty much anything is for sale and any deal can be made. To that end, and I can’t say it enough, Otilla is one hell of a pal because Gabita would be having that baby if it were it up to me.

‘4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Months’ is a tough film and a movie that will be difficult to watch and to that end probably isn’t a film for everybody. It’s not as grim as say, ‘No Country for Old Men’ but it has that kind of feel of sensibility about it. It’s also very deliberate and may move too slowly for most though I felt the pace and pitch were just about perfect given the subject matter. Surprisingly, the critics actually got one right this time, but I still can’t forgive them for ‘Old Joy’.