4 Months..., 1/31.

After the Romanian screening, women approached him and related one horrifying story after another. There was the fiancee who became pregnant and was promptly dumped by her husband-to-be before the wedding. "It was inconceivable to have a child out of wedlock then, as difficult as having an abortion," he said. She was lucky to find someone in a tiny village who agreed to do it. "He took her to the basement and showed her two large jars, one of water and the other of acid. He said that if the procedure went well, the fetus would go in the water. If it didn't, he would put her in the acid and no one would ever know what had happened to her."

Updated through 2/6.

"No surprise that, after winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year, Cristian Mungiu's brilliant and brutal record of a day in the life of two distraught women failed to make even the Oscar short list of 10 for Best Foreign Language Film," writes Peter Keough in the Boston Phoenix. "It embodies everything the Academy shuns, especially in that gelded category: ambiguity, lack of closure, a refusal to judge, and an uncompromising regard for reality." And he, too, talks with Mungiu.

So do Dennis Lim (Los Angeles Times) and Scott Foundas (LA Weekly) - and Anamaria Marinca joins in on that conversation.

Earlier: Reviews from Cannes, Toronto, New York, LA, 1/16 and 1/23.

Updates, 2/1: "Although every member of the ensemble cast delivers a tone-perfect performance, the movie belongs to Marinca, who conveys a welter of emotions - sweetness, anger, shame - with flawless conviction, often in wordless glance or gesture," writes Ann Hornaday in the Washington Post. "American audiences who have been treated to such consoling fictions as Knocked Up and Juno in recent months here finally have an example of filmmaking that dares to be honest about the high stakes of women's reproductive lives."

"First, this movie should be enjoyed," suggests Mick LaSalle in the San Francisco Chronicle. "Later, marveled at. And then, once the excitement has faded, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days really should be studied, because director Cristian Mungiu creates scenes unlike any ever filmed. Moreover, he builds and reinforces a mood with unexpected techniques that are simple, personal and resoundingly effective."

"[T]he tale is so compelling that it seduces viewers as a fairy tale does a child," writes Time's Richard Corliss. "They simply must know, as the plot knot coils tighter around the characters, What Happens Next."

Update, 2/6: "4 Months is a grinding, expertly crafted slice of Eastern European miserablism, an unquestionably overpowering experience that nonetheless left this reviewer with a nagging sense of unease," writes the Philadelphia Weekly. Also: Matt Prigge lists "Six Films That Deal With Illegal Abortion."

Posted by dwhudson at January 31, 2008 11:45 AM