Beyond the Hills

Gah, so much to talk about and not anywhere near enough room. Beyond the Hills is the second Mungiu movie I've seen and it hits you right in the gut. It discusses a variety of topics but at its core I'd say it's pained by religion's inability to treat the needs of the modern world.

Formally, Mingiu is so so good. The controlled camera creates a brutal, claustrophobic atmosphere. I wish the writing were as ambiguous as he seems to think it is (certainly his interviews indicate this). The film seems to me to be firmly in the camp of the skeptics, meaning anything less than a revolted attitude toward the monk/nuns is unconscionable. However, this makes Voiticha's decision to stay ridiculous. I wish I could empathize more with her choices, but M. doesn't take us into her mind.

Methodically paced but deeply unsettling. Mungiu demonstrates the failing of religion to solve real life problems, and he shows that misguided good intentions can be just as harmful as pure malevolence. The cold lifeless Romanian environment makes a good companion for the barren, antiquated doctrine under which these people live. The direction is subtle, controlled and confident, and the performances are perfect.

dehset bir oyunculuk yonetimine ve Cannes'da aldigi "en iyi senaryo" odulunu son kelimesine kadar hak eden inanilmaz bir senaryoya sahip sarsici bir film. "4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 zile" gibi muthis bir sinema saheserinden sonra boylesi guclu bir filmle yonetmenlikteki basarisinin tek filmden ibaret olarak kalmayacagini bagira bagira ispat eden Mungiu, bir sonraki filminde de istikrar gosterip -tabiri caizse- 3'lerse, favori yonetmenlerim arasina girmesi icin zerre tereddutum kalmayacak.

Asks some important questions about the religion, life and friendship, yet I can't help myself but think all these Romanian filmmakers produce films only to inform us how the things are shitty in Romania both in Ceausescu and post-Ceausescu days. The leading ladies deserve a mention.

Mungiu seems to begin each of his films with immensely solid convictions, showing unwavering vision throughout his career and helping him to establish a reputation as one of Romania's all time great directors. In Beyond The Hills, he seems to have come to a creative crescendo, creating stunningly bleak visuals, lush cinematography and astute social commentary steeped in allegorical weaving. This is a film that knows its grand and masterful, but doesn't lose focus on the depth of the story.

I'd like to think of this as an update of Dreyer's Joan of Arc, except that this Joan gets Haldol to treat her schizophrenia. Mungiu goes to lengths to show how kind and considerate the stern eastern orthodox Father is, until his church runs out of propane and Joan-Alina wounds his pride. Then watch out. The profane west-oriented doctors and cops are not spared either, of course, and the final insult is delivered from a bus to our windshield.

filmekimi 2012 & Cogu karanlikta gecen bu 150dklik film, Cavuseku donemi sonrasi Romanya'sinda ne saglik kurumlarina, ne dini kurumlara ne de devlete guvenemeyen insanlarin, tutunabilecekleri tek dal olan sevgiye tutunma cabalarini umutsuz bir cerceve icerisinde ele aliyor ve din sorgusundan ote iyinin ve kotunun kadar goreceli kavramlar oldugunu, insanin baska bir insani sefkatle de oldurebilecegini seyirciyi bogan bir kasvet ve guclu bir ironik kara mizah esliginde anlatiyor.

By throwing a mentally ill modern girl wearing trackpants into a 18th century-ish commune, we got a true cinematic chemical reaction on our hands. But this is only made possible by the non-judgemental view that Mungiu uses: it's life, confusing, ambiguous, nobody knows shit, most of us even the ones sucked up by the deceit of the orthodox church try to make the best of it and don't know what the hell they're doing, neither do the cops, and in the end we're in traffic. Absolutely awesome movie

80% of the movie takes place in a monastery, but instead of being about the church or religion this great acted and directed story by Mungiu is about powerless people trying to do good by helping someone with a severe attachment disorder. The last scene is as simple as it is creatively daring. I'm ashamed to admit how surprised I am that Romanian cinema has reached a level this high - an achievement that is lacking in The Netherlands (my country) to date.

ilk yarısı mükemmelin ötesi. film ise çok sert bir şekilde din ve dogmalar karşıtı. bu açıdan çok ama çok sevdim. ancak ikinci izlediğimden edit yapıyorum sonlarında senaryo bi tık zorlama olmuş. zaten böyle olmasa başyapıtların yanına yazardım.

The last one hour of the movie was pure genius, you really feel the dread watching unwitting cruelty. The build-up was rather slow (I fell asleep the first day after 1 hour, we finished it the second day), hence an only above average rating but it really made me cringe inside so it tells its tale really well (It also made me hate Voichita, she is the living proof that passivity breeds evil deeds). I hope that they are all rotting in prison; what they did is a shockingly inhuman thing.

Hangi açıdan bakılırsa bakılsın, kesinlikle usta işi bir film. Mungiu, aktif olarak film çeken en iyi yönetmenler arasında anılmayı bu filmle sonuna kadar hak ediyor.

Mungiu returns with another harrowing tale of people attempting to overcome society's repressive forces and find some semblance of happiness in their otherwise empty lives. While it doesn't pack as much of a punch as, say, 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days, it does capture the same sense of gnawing dread with both fierce intelligence and high realism. It reminded me of a grittier Bergman on a few occasions, and that's about as complimentary as I can be. Really impressive stuff.

A 2-and-a-half hour religious film set in a Romanian nunnery was always going to be a hard sell for me. Inevitably I dozed off for large parts. In the parts I did see, the acting seemed good and the cinematography looked crisp and understated. But I could tell from the bleak story, dialogue and pacing that it was my bad mistake to think of entering the cinema that day. Sorry Mungiu, for judging you so unfairly.

Further proof that Mungiu is one of the greatest filmmakers of his generation. Beyond the Hills is magnificent cinema: Easily recognizable situations, easily relatable characters, easy on the eyes - but morally challenging and hard on the viewer's convictions. Great movies such as this make you really feel and think about real life.

God is love. And this was something else.

That is one old-looking 30-year-old.

Religion bad secularism good

This could be the most balanced movie about faith.

Not as gripping as 4/3/2 and the depiction of semi-sympathetic but dangerously idiotic orthodox church with the apathetic institutional systems wasn't really as thought-provoking or powerful as one would hope. There were a few funny scenes but the overall the film didn't really earn its length. The style is now becoming formulaic.

Mungiu lost me with this one. It follows the true story of an exorcism gone wrong in a convent but opts to keep the audience at an emotional distance, thus turning in a cold intellectual exercise that doesn't really treat the characters as people, but as broader categories. And so, the gambit fails. Too bad, Mungiu! At the same time, Cosmina and Cristina are fabulous and real finds.

Although i remember being impressed with it at the time, i have to wonder what i'd think of 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days if i saw it now, because this didn't really do anything for me at all. To be fair, part of it probably just has to do with the growing familiarity of this deliberate, miserablist "naturalism" international arthouse style to the point where it all feels completely predictable, especially coming from Romania. I blame the Dardennes.

My take: a parable about the current difficulties traditional societies (Eastern European) have in confronting modernity (the West). At some point these societies might eventually assimilate modern ways--but not without some destruction and pain. ps69

Imi place asta filmul cristian multumesc. Iyi ki Romanya var ve iyi ki Cristian abimizin filmleri var ki ne var. I loved this movie also like his other movie, multumesc cristian.

The work of this director is a bit like a fictional version of very, very high quality journalism, which perhaps means that it is greatly admired more than loved, but this is certainly very complex and subtle, in addition to being very well photographed.

A dramatic slow-burn to a horrific and heartbreaking conclusion. Very well paced (more so in the first and last thirds) with not a single line of dialogue wasted, which is good since they're realised by an exceptional cast. Takes a very good standpoint on how religious acts operate in a modern society, but more important is the underlying relationship between these two orphans.

More of Mungiu's brand of emotional exploitationsim. Let the connoisseurs rejoice!

The length works against it.

fuck.

Mungiu restricts his editorialising to the layers he adds with his camera (and holy crap, does it look good - a half-built monastery covered in snow, a fence made of so many crosses you can't see a single one, a chimney that leaks smoke no matter how you patch it...). Victimise the weak and blame them if they call attention to it or try to escape, and not just within the convent walls either. One long, deliberately unfunny joke where the punchline is a splash of mud across the screen.

Based on true events that happened in 2005. Two close friends, who met as children in an orphanage, find that their relationship isn't the same. Alina has just arrived in Romania hoping to persuade her friend and nun-in-training, Voichita, to return to Germany with her but she has chosen to serve her church rather than leave as planned. During her visit Alina suffers from a seizure and instead of seeking the proper medical attention, the priest and nuns have resigned to praying for her.

"It's Cristian Mungiu's staging and compositional skill that lends the material its true sense of dawning dread." - Nick Schager