R.M.N. (2022)
It is not many directors that work EU politics into the themes of their films, but Mungiu has done so again and here it is even more obvious than in Graduation. But I don’t think it is as successful. here. While I am sure the depiction of the overt racism here is accurate, it also came off as a bit of caricature and while racism isn’t explained in rational terms, I did miss a deeper, or at least more interesting, depiction on why these people hate foreign workers so much. I think Mungiu’s other films were better at showing the social and cultural dynamics that leads to these things, like how and why corruption becomes deeply integrated in a society in Graduation.
The impressive long take town hall meeting scene did remedy some of my negative experience I was having with this film so far. It goes a bit deeper into showing how these people see the EU as full of hypocrisy and not to be trusted, with small examples like they could funding for new parks but they were in more in need of an improved sewage system.
I am mostly just a little disappointed, because I like how Mungiu deals with this side of the consequences of EU politics, but it doesn’t come near the level of what he has done in other films.
Rating: 3