4 Months..., 1/16.

The failure of Cristian Mungui's Palme d'Or-winner "to advance to this penultimate round of the nominating process is as embarrassing a blunder as any in the Academy's history: You can put it right up there with the Best Picture win by Crash (2004)," argues the LA Weekly's Scott Foundas, who looks into the nominating process and calls up Foreign Language nominating committee chairman Mark Johnson: "Asked if further retooling (including the possible involvement of more active Academy members earlier in the nominating process) may lie in the future, Johnson was unambiguous. 'That's what has to be done, because in my mind it can't continue like this,' he said. 'I don't believe these choices reflect the Academy at large.'"

Updated through 1/19.

Meanwhile: "The frigid stoicism of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days barely contains the filmmaker's fury," writes David Edelstein in New York. "It's a movie that centers on the subjugation of women, but the plight of Otilia and Gabita is also a window on a world in which everyone is stunted, in which fear has metastasized into malignant self-interest."

Emine Saner talks with Anamaria Marinca for the Guardian.

Earlier: Cannes, Toronto, New York and LA.

Update, 1/17: "The journey of the picture's protagonists is often harrowing and sometimes thriller-caliber suspenseful," writes Premiere's Glenn Kenny. "Although many of the critical notices on the picture have focused on its "social problem" aspect - which does of course exist, and is well articulated - for me 4 Months really hits home as a character study."

Updates, 1/18: "Not unlike her strong and resourceful character, [Marinca] carries the movie on her shoulders. Captured in long, single takes in which the camera remains still and soaks in every impression, her face is an ever-shifting map of calculations, negotiations, raw nerve, paranoia, disgust, and resolve." Steve Dollar talks with her for the New York Sun.

"4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is a social problem drama that often feels like a horror movie," writes Phil Nugent. "Though less formally audacious than [The Death of Mr Lazarescu], which used up a lot of footage showing you nothing getting done in real time to make you appreciate the ineffectiveness of the system, I think that 4 Months..., which was written and directed by Cristian Mungiu, is the better, more powerful movie.... The people in it may not know that the government is crumbling from within and has only a couple more years to live, but they're just going about their business. Their world only seems scary when they're doing something they shouldn't and things don't go smoothly - and then, suddenly, it's terrifying."

Update, 1/19: "Two-thirds of the way through the screening - at a point when the viewer is fully immersed in the helplessness and dread that are the film's governing emotions - I bumped into Mungiu just outside the theater doors," recalls AO Scott in a piece on the new Romanian wave for the New York Times Magazine. "He appeared to be listening intently to what was going on inside. 'I think there are a lot of Romanians here tonight,' he said, looking up. I asked what gave him that impression. 'They're laughing,' he said. 'They always do.'... What followed the screening was less the anticipated Q-and-A session than a trip down memory lane, which spilled out into the theater lobby and continued well into the night. 'That was exactly like my dorm room at university,' one woman announced. Another wanted to know how Mungiu found the brands of soap, gum and other items that had been staples of the Ceausescu era. ('You can find anything on the Internet,' he replied.)"

Posted by dwhudson at January 16, 2008 7:53 AM