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Boogie (2008)

Director: Radu Muntean

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2 reviews

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From Time Out London

Readers familiar with ‘The Death of Mr Lazarescu’ or ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days’ will recognise the hallmarks of recent Romanian filmmaking in this third film from Radu Muntean. Naturalistic performances, long takes, unfussy edits and a story that unfolds over a few hours are all present and correct.

It’s true that Muntean’s film about a young father and husband, Bogdan (Dragos Bucur), who, while at the coast with his wife (Anamaria Marinca) and child, bumps into two feckless old pals who take him for a night of drinking, is less impressive in its storytelling than those earlier films and certainly more domestic in its interests. But its observations of the pushes and pulls between adulthood and youthful freedoms are still acute. The best scenes play out between husband and wife as the presence of old friends ignite frustrations that are already smouldering.

Author: Dave Calhoun

Time Out London Issue 2004, 15-21 Jan, 2009

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User reviews of this film

Pam R said...

Posted on Mar 02 2010 08:58 Went to see this last night at the locat arthouse cinema. Based on the previous Romanian films I'd seen I was really excited about it. The Death of M r Lazarescu and 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days are amongst my favourite films. Unfortunately, Boogie didn't work for me - it was like an episode of Eastenders crossed with a ladmags fantasy. I'm disappointed.

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Ramona Mitrica said...

Posted on Jan 16 2009 03:22 Must see! Romanian New Wave is still getting stronger. BOOGIE is the 5th Romanian film launched in UK cinemas after 'The Death of Mr Lazarescu' (Cristi Puiu), '12:08 East of Bucharest' (Corneliu Porumboiu), '4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days' (Cristian Mungiu) and 'California Dreamin' (Cristian Nemescu).

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