I've just seen this movie at the cinema today an unfortunately there were just 4 persons in the whole projection room because this movie has to be seen by more people. It is not a perfect movie,but nonetheless it has its good parts,especially in recreating the feeling that you get in a hospital ward(in Romania).Bogdan Dumitrache,who won the Best Acotr prize at the Locarno film festival portraits very convincing a man in his 30s who,from being a normal guy "minding his own business" becomes a neurotic annoying son of a sick mother who questions everything and everyone. The shots are also filmed very interesting,mainly in POV or in some kind of a reverse-POV(the POV switches to the person he is speaking with).This creates a rather unique perspective on the actions taking place. Also there is a surreal element in the film,a man masked in a bunny,as seen in the main cover picture of the movie,which is vaguely presented and remains a enigma throughout the film. Overall compared to his previous film "Hooked"(Pescuit sportiv) which is a really disappointing movie based on an interesting idea,but with a horrible editing and amateur camera-work,Best intentions is an interesting movie that should be seen by European film lovers or more specifically Romanian New Wave film lovers,resembling much Cristi Puiu's more acclaimed film "Moartea domnului Lazarescu"
5 Reviews
Profligate
CrisPat24 April 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Adrian Sitaru is a prize-winning Romanian director who is part of the Romanian New Wave. This particular story is apparently inspired from his own personal experience. A caring son returns from his standalone life in the capital city into his childhood town. There, he supervises the time spent in hospital by his mother who had a minor stroke. He listens to sundry opinions and worries that no treatment will be good enough.
They say in the movie business that one minute of production is precious, that you need to use production time efficiently. Efficiency seems to have been the least of this movie's concerns. We are being told for one hour and forty minutes hours that this particular son is too neurotic for his mother's good (the road to hell is paved with good intentions, the title gives away a lot of the movie). His excessive attention to detail and obsessiveness is clear from the start, we get his character but there is a limit to it and to what's significant. To fill in space, the story has to add friends who discuss Jesus and resurrection and a masked girl in the hospital who have no relevance but just make it hard to follow and digest.
The son is in every frame and he is seen mostly through the viewpoint of other characters. That's not consistent though as sometimes viewpointing is randomly abandoned and there are scenes when the son is on his own and viewpointing becomes impossible.
The movie has no score, a feature I've seen in other New Wave productions.
All in all, it's a movie which used its production time very profligately and could have told the same story in a short.
They say in the movie business that one minute of production is precious, that you need to use production time efficiently. Efficiency seems to have been the least of this movie's concerns. We are being told for one hour and forty minutes hours that this particular son is too neurotic for his mother's good (the road to hell is paved with good intentions, the title gives away a lot of the movie). His excessive attention to detail and obsessiveness is clear from the start, we get his character but there is a limit to it and to what's significant. To fill in space, the story has to add friends who discuss Jesus and resurrection and a masked girl in the hospital who have no relevance but just make it hard to follow and digest.
The son is in every frame and he is seen mostly through the viewpoint of other characters. That's not consistent though as sometimes viewpointing is randomly abandoned and there are scenes when the son is on his own and viewpointing becomes impossible.
The movie has no score, a feature I've seen in other New Wave productions.
All in all, it's a movie which used its production time very profligately and could have told the same story in a short.
A pointless movie
eduard-2014 January 2013
Warning: Spoilers
This has to be one of the worst Romanian movies I have ever seen. I can't actually believe the money and time being wasted on this piece of junk. I still can't believe that I watched this garbage for one hour and thirty minutes waiting for something to happen. The dialogues are bland and could not grab my attention at all. I could not care less about the characters. Reviewer before me is kindly trying to explain the idiot with the mask as "being a supra-realistic experience " . I will call this just a lame attempt to grab the viewer attention to something that's left unexplained. No wonder there were only 4 people in the cinema . I am curious how many still present or awake in the room after movie ended. Now seriously , you better go and drink some paint or stick some needles in your eyes than watch this . I would give minus points if I could.
from new wave circle
Vincentiu29 October 2013
film of new Romanian wave, it explores a common situation levels. and, without be a revelation, can be considered a good film. a son and his neurotic reaction for his mother health. Bogdan Dumitrache is best choice for Alex role and Natașa Raab is a convincing mother. Adrian Sitaru gives a good story and a decent use of actors but not always coherent. the rabbit mask, few strange scenes makes the movie little bizarre. but this is not a big problem. the film is correct, almost touching, so, a part of a chain who reminds another films of new generations of Romanian directors, not only as themes but like key of image about reality between documentary and testimony, between chronicle and self definition, search of perfect voice as film makers.
good job
Kirpianuscus26 November 2016
a not new theme - "Moartea domnului Lăzărescu" remains the cinematographic cliff about Romanian hospitals. but a great work. not surprising. Adrian Sitaru is one of interesting voices from the New Romanian Cinema Wave. Bogdan Dumitrache is the perfect choice for the role of angry son front to his mother sickness. Natașa Raab and Marian Rîlea, as the parents, are great. and the mixture of eccentric characters, hospital air, ordinary details from the Romanian specific to understand the life is perfect. it is a film about a state, a form of love , using so useful absurd who defines the society. the tension works and the cinematography does the precise dose of realism. so, a son and his mother. in the womb of a hospital. that could be all.
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