Synopsis

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

The Romanian film that won the Best Director Award at Locarno International Film Festival (2011), nominated and winner at other important festivals (Cleveland, Chicago, Las Palmas), „Best Intentions” is Adrain Sitaru’s second feature film and, at the time, one of the anticipated Romanian films on big screen. A movie with a great cast (Bogdan Dumitrache, NatașaRaab, Adrian Titieni), „Best Intentions” was well received both by Romanian and international critics.

Din dragoste cu cele mai bune intentii - Adrian Sitaru - 2011

Director: Adrian Sitaru
Scriptwriter: Adrian Sitaru
Cast: Bogdan Dumitrache, Natașa Raab, Adrian Titieni, Gabriela Popescu, Marian Râlea, Alina Grigore, Clara Vodă, Magda Catone
Produced by: Ada Solomon, Monica Gorgan, Emõke Vágási
Cinematography by: Adrian Silișteanu, Mihai Silișteanu
Film editing by: Adrian Sitaru, Andrei Gorgan
Year: 2011
Category: feature film
Genre: drama
Duration: 105 minutes
Subtitles: english, french
Country: Available only in Romania and the Republic of Moldova.

189,582 – Cinepub viewers

PLOT SUMMARY

The film takes the viewer into a journey through Alex’s confused world, after he finds out that his mother has suffered a cerebral attack. His mother’s state, the doctors, his girlfriend, the hospital’s patients, his mother’s girlfriends, the contradictory advice he receives from everyone or the patient wearing a rabbit mask on her face – all these contribute to Alex’s paranoia. As his mother seems to feel better, Alex commits numerous mistakes. For love with best intentions.

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Adrian Sitaru’s movie is part of the those Romanian films with an important stress on the director’s technique. The main character, who faces a difficult moment of his life after his mother had a cerebral attack, is filmed from various subjective points of view, all external, which makes a powerful contrast with the depth of the character’s inner drama.

This is the director’s bet, based on a similar yet more refined and more skillful technique than the one in „Hooked” (2007). The camera passes more naturally from one character to another while acting as a distorting looking glass for Alex’s paradoxically increasing anxiety as his mother seems to actually feel better.

There was noticed an affinity with „The Death of Mister Lazarescu” (2005) by Cristi Puiu, the movie where the aesthetics of the „New Wave” in the Romanian cinema started from, just that here Mister Lazarescu is the patient’s relative and not the patient himself.

Reviews:

„Sitaru complies here with the main aesthetic principals of the “new Romanian cinema” born from The Death of Mister Lazarescu (actually, the movie can be seen as a follow-up to Lazarescu: what if the hospitals would be rather OK, but the problem would be the relatives of the patients?) and, yet, at the same time, keeps a definite distance, successfully addressing a list of personal issues and technical curiosities left from the previous movie (as far as the director’s techniques are concerned), and, (at the theatrical level) playing with the viewer’s minds in a fashion that seems intimately connected to his particular type of humor.” (Andrei Gorzo – agenda.liternet.ro )

Lines

„Mom had a stroke and she’s in the hospital… Dad called and told me that she’s speaking nonsense…and keeps repeating the same question.”

„Why are you panicking? ‘Cause the first 24 hours are critical, that’s why!”

„Why move me?!
I thought about Bucharest, but Cluj is closer. Everybody does it.”

„Whenever I say that it’s dangerous for her at night, people laugh at me. And now I’m overreacting!”

„God! These guys and their good intentions drive me crazy!”

Awards

  • Nomination: Gold Hugo Award for the Best Foreign Movie, Chicago International Film Festival – USA, 2011
  • Nomination: Golden Leopard Award (Adrian Sitaru), Locarno International Film Festival – Switzerland, 2011
  • Nomination: Best Film, Best Director (Adrian Sitaru), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Natașa Raab), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Marian Râlea), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Gabriela Popescu), Best Screenplay (Adrian Sitaru) – Gopo Awards – Romania, 2012
  • Nomination: SIGNIS Award (Adrian Sitaru), Hong Kong International Film Festival – People’s Republic of China, 2012
  • Nomination: Golden Lady Harimaguada Award (Adrian Sitaru), Las Palmas International Film Festival – Spain, 2012
  • Best Director, Best Actor in a Leading Role – Locarno International Film Festival – Switzerland, 2011
  • FNE Visegrad Award for Best Co-production – Miskolc International Film Festival – Hungary, 2011
  • Best Actor in a Leading Role (Bogdan Dumitrache), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Adrian Titieni) – Gopo Awards, Romania, 2012
  • Best Eastern-European Film Award (Adrian Sitaru), Cleveland International Film Festival – USA, 2012

Media articles

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