In voice-over, Kiki (Maria Popistaşu), a young college student, explains how on her very first day at university she met Alex (Ioana Barbu) and immediately fell in love with her. Tudor Giurgiu’s exceptionally accomplished first feature then pieces together the development of that relationship, capturing the process of their opening up to each other both emotionally and eventually physically.
Alex is a country girl, for whom college is a chance to escape from the provinces forever. Kiki’s from Bucharest, and sees college as just one more new adventure among many others she’d like to experience. Add to the mix Kiki’s brother, Sandu (Tudor Chirilă), who shows up a little too frequently and whose relationship with his sister has a certain mysterious edge. As incarnated by his wonderful young cast, Giurgiu’s characters never stand for or represent their attractions—they live them, seeing them simply as part of their lives. — Richard Pena, Program Director, Film Society of Lincoln Center
Director: Tudor Giurgiu
Original title: Legături bolnăvicioase
Romania, 2006, 85 min.
Accompanying this film on Link TV is the Romanian New Wave short film "Humanitarian Aid":
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Humanitarian Aid
A quirky short film about some humanitarian aid workers in Romania who are taught a lesson by the villagers they go to help. |
LEARN MORE:
The Romanian Cultural Institute of New York
The New York Times coverage of the Romanian New Wave
This film is part of the series The Romanian New Wave, a special Cinemondo presentation brought to you by Link TV in association with the Romanian Cultural Institute, New York.
Starting in 2001, Romanian cinema surprised the world with a group of new filmmakers in their late thirties. Their movies - intense, dark humored and down to earth - were consistent with a radical belief that film in Romania could break through artistically. Responding to the hectic and sometimes chaotic post-Communist landscape, they took simple life stories and urban fables, and turned them into globally affecting films.
Broadly acclaimed by the international film press, and stubbornly productive despite a lack of resources, these young directors were regarded at first with disdain by Romanian critics. Yet slowly but surely they gained legitimacy, winning awards at Cannes and other major film festivals, and in the process putting Romanian cinema on the world map.
The films in this special series all come from this “new wave” of Romanian filmmakers. Few of them have had any theatrical exposure in the U.S., and through Cinemondo will reach a nationwide TV audience for the first time. Among the many highlights are Cristi Puiu’s Stuff and Dough, Porumboiu’s 12:08 East of Bucharest, Muntean’s The Paper Will Be Blue, and Nemescu’s Marilena From P7. Because documentary filmmaking has flourished alongside fictional films in Romania, three outstanding works are included in the series: Bar de Zi, Cold Waves and Testimony.
The Romanian New Wave series is a joint project of Link TV and the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York, which arranged for these gems of world cinema to appear on Cinemondo and reach millions of American homes. Enjoy!
Corina Suteu, Director, Romanian Cultural Institute in New York
Steven Lawrence, Vice President, Music & Cultural Programming, Link TV
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