Here are two examples of how you should not set your expectations for a film based on a plot summary.
The Love Witch tells the story of a young woman desperate to find love and who will stop at nothing to find it. Being a witch, those efforts include casting spells and even murder. Graduation is about a Romanian man’s attempt to ensure that his daughter gets the grades at school she requires to get a spot at Cambridge University. Despite the intriguing presence, The Love Witch is an extremely dull and repetitive watch. On the other hand, Graduation sounds very dry but it is fascinating and at times tense study of one man desperately trying to hold his life together.
Shot in sumptuous technicolor and recalling horror movies of the late 60s / early 70s, The Love Witch is beautiful to look at and Samantha Robinson impresses in the lead role. However, I couldn’t get on with its stilted dialogue and mostly hammy supporting performances. It really a prime example of style over substance that writer / director Anna Biller would have been better presenting as a short. The film is boring enough but at the two thirds mark there is am extended sequence set at a renaissance fayre that is truly excruciating.
Rating: 4 out of 10
In Graduation, Romeo (Adrian Titieni), a doctor, has a lot on his plate. His wife is borderline depressive, his mother is aging and ill, his mistress is looking for a commitment, and his daughter is striving to get the examination results she needs. Romeo slowly becomes entangled in a web of corruption – not a big scandal but a series of small favours provided by people in authority that start to mount-up. Director Cristian Mungiu presents the story in a straightforward way. No fancy camera trickery or histrionic scenes, it is a film that gradually took a hold of me and I became totally invested in the story. Titeni is impressive and Maria-Victoria Dragus is outstanding as his daughter, among a universally solid cast.
A hard sell maybe, but Graduation deserves to reach a bigger audience than it is likely to find.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10