Writer-director Cristian Mungiu continues his expert evisceration of his native Romania, and by extension, this whole rotten world and the people who make it that way, even as they convince themselves otherwise. Here, the remarkably sympathetic villain is a father (Adrian Titieni) who just wants a better life for his beloved daughter — and as he sees it, “better” means “somewhere besides Romania.” Somewhere more civilized, where merit is more important than connections, where people can afford the luxury of moral absolutes, and where the doomed struggle to change society at large doesn’t wind up destroying society at home. Somewhere like Cambridge, where she can go if she manages to ace her exams — or even if she just appears to ace her exams. Mungiu’s surgical precision is on full display in his exploration of the back-scratcher’s pathology and its attendant complications, and he’s an old hand at establishing a dread-heavy mood. But the brute force of 2012’s masterful Beyond the Hills is here moderated by the discovery of vital forces amid the morbidity, moments hinting at hope and healing. A measure of justice amid the casual corruption, a moment of humility amid the self-satisfaction. It’s a thrilling development, sadly muted by a story made up mostly of static conversations — in police stations, in hospitals, in offices, in kitchens, in bedrooms, in cars, et cetera. (2016) — Matthew Lickona
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