The Process of Cristian Mungiu's Graduation Is Not Without Dire Consequences

How far would you go to help your child? It's a moral quandary that comes up a lot in movies, but typically such movies face that question in the form of a thriller or an action movie (the latter type of presentation typically stars Liam Neeson). For Romanian director Cristian Mungiu's newest movie Graduation, he decides to explore this question in the confines of a grim drama, one that's heavy on realistic conversations and bleak storytelling. Graduation follows the lengths a father will go to in order to help his child not by showing the father fighting off an army of kidnappers but rather by trying to get his child into a good college so that she can have a better future.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days Is A Magnificent Tale Of Maintaining Individualism In The Face Of Oppression

For a good chunk of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, there is no indication where exactly lead character Otilla (Anamaria Marinca) is going or what she's trying to do. She and her roommate Gabriela Dragut (Laura Vasillu) reside in a Romanian town in the year 1987, meaning they live under a heavily-controlling government, which explains why Otilla is acting so sneaky in her day-to-day actions as she attempts to purchase cigarettes from her neighbor as well as try and meet up with a mysterious man by the name of Viarel Bebe (Vlad Ivanov). She and Dragut are supposed to meet this individual at a hotel later for important reasons that their inherently more secretive nature prevents them from talking about openly.