Presented by Facets Cinematheque and the Romanian Cultural Institute, this complete retrospective of films by Pintilie runs Friday, May 4, through Sunday, May 13, at Facets Cinematheque. Following are selected features screening through May 13; for a full schedule see facets.org. All films are in Romanian with subtitles.
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Niki and Flo Fathers-in-law of a young couple trying to conceive their first child, Niki and Flo couldn’t be more different. Niki (Victor Rebengiuc) is a retired army colonel proud of his career; Flo (Razvan Vasilescu) is a vegetarian anarchist, vehemently critical of church, state, and all other institutions. The two are brought together by the funeral of Niki’s other son, who was electrocuted in a freak accident. Pintilie adroitly and gradually exposes the ostensibly free-spirited Flo as a domineering fascist who continually denigrates the unassuming old soldier. Unfortunately, a violent conclusion upsets the balance of what comes before. —Joshua Katzman 99 min. Also on the program: a video interview with Pintilie. Fri 5/4, 9:15 PM; Wed 5/9, 7 PM; Fri 5/11, 9 PM; and Sun 5/13, 1 PM
Sunday at Six In Pintilie’s debut feature (1965), a member of Romania’s socialist underground (Dan Nutu) falls for a spunky new recruit (Irina Petrescu) whose inexperience leads to tragedy. The story of youthful idealists hounded by an oppressive government links this to American counterculture movies, though the elliptical narrative, jump cuts, street filming, and long tracking shots are more reminiscent of the French New Wave. The naturalism of the lead actors as well as the extras gives this a timeless quality, and Radu Caplescu’s lively score wittily comments on the action. —Andrea Gronvall 102 min. Sun 5/6, 1 and 5 PM
