Romanian author’s work Jude’s latest relax

The extremely fertile Romanian filmmaker to the work of Judas, just in the last year, directed two fictional features, directed a feature documentary and posted a one -hour experimental film made entirely of a recording of the web camera shot in Andy Warhol’s grave.

Unlike his famous compatriot, Palma d’Or winner Cristian Mungio, whose intricate dramas are out of the way out every four or five years, Judas likes to make films fast and dirty, as if his productions were hard to follow all. The ideas that run through his head. His last two features – Don’t expect too much from the end of the world and Bad luck hitting or loony porn -Bos were cut satire that felt fast, fresh and extremely contemporary, as if they were shot in the flight.

The same could be said for his latest story of morality, Continental ’25The more universal bent, but the references to such keys such as the liquid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, as well as the Hungarian despot leader Viktor Orbán. It consists of long -term dialogues that revolve around guilt, politics, racism, religion and social justice, it is not easy to sit if you are looking for a narrative about the edge of your seat. Jude has a lot to say here – the movie could have been made as a stage game, it relies so much for long conversations – but as usual, the director finds an intriguing way to say those things.

The plot is simple and is not even a big deal: when the executor, Orsolya (Eszter Tompa), tries to evict the homeless, ION (Gabriel Spahiu, who starred in Romanian New Wave Classic Classic The death of Mr. Lazarescu), from the basement in a building that will be demolished soon, the latter ended suicide. Shocked by the incident, Orsolya carried out the consequences of dealing with his fault.

This is all that really happens in terms of the story. As far as content is concerned, the rest of the movie contains Orsolya, which goes from one meeting to another, meeting with friends and family to talk about what happened and try to bother her feelings. The film is a didactic, Brechtian structure – Brecht is quoted several times in a dialogue – in which Jude asks the viewer to question what the death of Iona means in the company of relaxed furious capitalism, racist nationalism and religious extremism.

Orsolya herself is a victim of such trends. We learn that the building where she was evicted was purchased by the German investment fund, which plans to turn it into a boutique hotel. Meanwhile, a conversation between Orsolye and her caustic mom (Annamária Biluska) reveals their origin as Hungarians who emigrated to Transylvania, the Romanian region filled and Pro and anti-hungar feelings (also the topic of the excellent drama Mungiu 2022, RMN). When Orsolya gets into a drunken conversation overnight with former law students (Adonis Tanta) who now works as a saver Uber Eats, the latter claims to be Zen Buddhist, but “I’m Romanian” written in a glittering LED lights on his delivery bag, so these racist drivers are not wrong about the immigrant and cross it.

Jude enjoys such contradictions and makes them the substance itself Continental ’25which was named after the street where the ion killed himself. “I am not guilty,” Orsolya says early, “but I don’t feel good.” The film consists of her attempt to feel better about things, whether with her husband before he goes with his children to a trip to Greece; An old friend (Oan Mardare) who tells the story of a homeless parable that sets the camp in front of his apartment; Or the Orthodox priest (Serban Paul) who does not make things much better by enjoying the mysteries of God.

The director gives us a stretch, and the fact that regular DP Marius Pandura shoots each sequence from a fixed camera position, without any cutting or different angles, some discussions can make tedious. Several inserts shake things, including a shocking video showing a Russian soldier blowing his head with a grenade. Jude uses these and other current references to set up an action in a tumultuous present, although Orsolya’s fault she faced could happen at any moment in history.

While Contiiental ’25 is a lobber affair, which has been booking two documentary -style sequences in which there is no conversation at all. In the opening, we see the ion wandering around Cluj to collect bottles and cans, which they make to buy vodka. He is not a citizen of the sample, although we learn that he used to be athlete a star before the injury took him to alcoholism and then homelessness. In the final assembly, a series of shots reveals construction sites around the city, sorely implies that there are plenty of apartments available, just not for everyone. If Orsolya will return to his life and business soon, Ion will not, and Jude Hammers, showing that their fate guided by the factors outside their control.