Occident

Romania

2002

105 Min

Color

1.66:1

Romanian

Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
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CAST Alexandru Papadopol, Anca-Ioana Androne, Samuel Tastet, Tania Popa, Dorel Visan, Gabriel Spahiu, Julieta Strîmbeanu, Eugenia Bosânceanu, Ioan Gyuri Pascu, Tora Vasilescu, Michael Beck, Valeriu Andriuta, Coca Bloos

MUSIC Petru Margineanu, Ioan Gyuri Pascu

SOUND Andrei Papp

Cannes (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs), Transilvania (Romanian Days): Transilvania Trophy, Rotterdam (Hubert Bals Fund), Göteborg, Melbourne (Romanian Wave), Helsinki

Synopsis

Before filmmaker Cristian Mungiu collected the coveted Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes Film Festival with 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days, he wowed critics and audiences alike with his debut feature, a bitter comedy about young people looking to emigrate from Romania.

Occident is set at the dawn of post-Ceaușescu Romania, where the excitement of newly acquired freedom is tempered by the harsh economic and political realities of the new society. Mungiu weaves three different storylines that take place at the same time – crossing and interconnecting – with characters often influencing each other without even knowing it. And sometimes, the true nature of a situation is only revealed once viewed from another character’s point of view. –MIFF

Director

Cristian Mungiu

Cristian Mungiu (b. 1968, Iaşi) is a Romanian filmmaker, winner of the Palme d’Or in 2007.
After studying English literature at the University of Iaşi, he worked for a few years as a teacher and as a journalist. After that, he enrolled at the University of Film in Bucharest to study film directing. After graduating in 1998, Mungiu made several short films. In 2002, he debuted with his first feature film, Occident. Occident enjoyed critical success, winning prizes in several film festivals and being featured in Director’s Fortnight at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.

In 2007 Mungiu wrote and directed his second feature, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. The film was received enthusiastically, attracting critical praise and being selected in the official competition at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, where it eventually won the coveted Palme d’Or for feature film, marking the first time that prize was awarded to a Romanian filmmaker.

Mungiu has said that early Miloš Forman… read more

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AdamantCocoon

30Dec11

A tragicomedy in the amiable vein of the Uruguayan film Whisky, though not nearly as tactful, generous and funny, nor even as tightly wound as director Cristian Mungiu's prominent follow-up, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007), to which Occident is tonally antipodal. Love the socio-economic/-political upheaval for prevailing context, though it worked best in the comic deftness of the first narrative.