Beyond the Hills (***)

This drama comes from Cristian Mungiu, the Romanian who made the deservedly acclaimed 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. That film tackled the subject of illegal abortion. This one is “inspired by” nonfiction books about an incident at an Orthodox monastery. The two main characters are two young women who grew up in the same orphanage but have not seen each other for some time. Meanwhile, one, Alina (Cristina Flutur), has worked abroad, and the other, Voichita (Cosmina Stratan), has joined a strict religious order led by a bearded priest and lives an ascetic lifestyle.
 
For a time, I expected Voichita to see this patriarchal set-up for what it is and rebel. But she appears content, whereas Alina appears unhappy and needy. She hopes to resume the once-close friendship — how close is merely implied— and has little sympathy for the religious order. Neither did I, but I appreciated that Mungiu takes what appears to be a neutral approach. It may be too much to say most people will truly understand the nuns’ decision to live as they do, but the filmmaker himself does not appear to impose a strong viewpoint (though the ending, based on an actual incident, leaves less room for interpretation).

Mungiu builds his stories from the accumulation of detail, taking an almost documentary-like approach. These are fixed characters, and we see their inner lives only in watching their behavior. Only Alina, a clearly troubled young woman, exhibits a volatility, but even she does not change much in the course of the story. The tension does not hinge on revelations of secrets, but on the inexorable collision of religious and secular world views. This is a clash of civilizations writ small; slowly, it builds toward inevitable conflict. But…slowly. I admired the realism (there is no musical score) and the precision of the filmmaking while feeling impatient for the story to get where it’s going. I suspect the latter feeling will predominate in most viewers.

IMDb link

viewed 10/23/12 7:00 pm at Ritz East  [Philadelphia Film Festival screening] and reviewed 10/31/12–3/28/13

Paul (***1/4)

What if all of our clichéd notions about aliens—elongated bodies, flying saucers, government cover-ups, anal probes—well, not anal probes—are all based in reality? That’s one premise of this genial comedy from Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, who were behind the parodies Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. The British duo wrote the film (with Greg Mottola directing) and star as nerdy pals vacationing in America, attending Comic-Con and hitting the road in an RV.

This doesn’t some much parody sci-fi films themselves as our notions of aliens, nerds, and possibly British people. The alien, Paul, with whom they have a close encounter seems a lot like a regular guy, or like Seth Rogen, anyway, who provides the voice. (He looks a lot like E.T., but there’s a reason for that.)

IMDB link

viewed 2/24/11 at Ritz East [PFS screening] and reviewed 3/22/11