'Graduation' has established itself as the hottest and most acclaimed foreign-language flick of the year. In a very unimpressive year for films, I was hoping this would bring it out of its slump. After all, there was room for enough potential to be the best film of the year in general. Not at all.
'Graduation' deals with the overwhelming pressures of parenthood, ambition, and professionalism. The main character is physician Romeo (weird that as a doctor we just about never see him in practise) living in suburban Transylvania. When his daughter Eliza was born, he planned on her going far with academia and study abroad. She has the best grades in school and got scholarships to prestigious school in the UK. She just now needs to pass her final exams. On her way to her first exam, she is attacked and seriously injured. This jeopardizes her state of mind and Romeo's plans for her daughter.
So this is the story. Romeo, his daughter, and wife are all good in this. Obviously Romeo shines. But there were some seriously hideous elements that angered me and cost this a good review from me. The first and biggest is Romeo (about 50) having an affair with a woman about 20. He's still married, his marriage is rocky, but never do we get the extent of it and why he's been cheating for over a year. Romeo and his mistress is disgusting. And their relationship is never delved into. There's even a scene at the end when Romeo is looking after the woman's kid brother. Each scene with the mistress stuck out like a sore thumb and had a bad aftertaste long after her scenes were finished. This got me to hating Romeo right off the bat. And this subplot wasn't even resolved!
Romeo being a sleaze-bucket made himself as a whole dead on arrival. His other flaws got hugely amplified. After is daughter gets beaten and sexually assaulted, he still pressures her into doing the exams. We do get to see how hard it is for her to get accommodations, but he's a doctor! She's emotionally scarred and physically injured, so why not sign her up for exams some other time? He just gave up with trying to heal his daughter and went back to pressuring her for school. Scarring her even more with this pressure could increase her suicidal risk! Fathers that are bigger a-holes would draw the line somewhere. I know he wants her to have a better life, but maintaining the pressure of exams right after her the scariest moment in her life mad me hate Romeo even more. She's your daughter for Christ's sake!
Romeo has some other doctor issues happening with him. Potential lawsuits for him are in place. Good! That's what you get for cheating with someone half your age and being borderline abusive to your daughter! These bits are barely resolved. Actually, almost nothing in this movie is resolved! The little bits of closure that we do get is very forgettable and unsuitable for a picture like this.
Adrian Titieni does a mighty fine job acting. I didn't like his character at all, but he does give some pretty juicy chops. So good that "hate" and "could not stand" are a bit too harsh of terms to describe my reaction to him. Anybody less talented and I would truly have hated him and the movie would have sucked. Director Cristian Mungiu also does a good job in making a gloomy picture that can suck the audience right in.
A few good aspects were not enough to save this. Thumbs down. 6/10
'Graduation' deals with the overwhelming pressures of parenthood, ambition, and professionalism. The main character is physician Romeo (weird that as a doctor we just about never see him in practise) living in suburban Transylvania. When his daughter Eliza was born, he planned on her going far with academia and study abroad. She has the best grades in school and got scholarships to prestigious school in the UK. She just now needs to pass her final exams. On her way to her first exam, she is attacked and seriously injured. This jeopardizes her state of mind and Romeo's plans for her daughter.
So this is the story. Romeo, his daughter, and wife are all good in this. Obviously Romeo shines. But there were some seriously hideous elements that angered me and cost this a good review from me. The first and biggest is Romeo (about 50) having an affair with a woman about 20. He's still married, his marriage is rocky, but never do we get the extent of it and why he's been cheating for over a year. Romeo and his mistress is disgusting. And their relationship is never delved into. There's even a scene at the end when Romeo is looking after the woman's kid brother. Each scene with the mistress stuck out like a sore thumb and had a bad aftertaste long after her scenes were finished. This got me to hating Romeo right off the bat. And this subplot wasn't even resolved!
Romeo being a sleaze-bucket made himself as a whole dead on arrival. His other flaws got hugely amplified. After is daughter gets beaten and sexually assaulted, he still pressures her into doing the exams. We do get to see how hard it is for her to get accommodations, but he's a doctor! She's emotionally scarred and physically injured, so why not sign her up for exams some other time? He just gave up with trying to heal his daughter and went back to pressuring her for school. Scarring her even more with this pressure could increase her suicidal risk! Fathers that are bigger a-holes would draw the line somewhere. I know he wants her to have a better life, but maintaining the pressure of exams right after her the scariest moment in her life mad me hate Romeo even more. She's your daughter for Christ's sake!
Romeo has some other doctor issues happening with him. Potential lawsuits for him are in place. Good! That's what you get for cheating with someone half your age and being borderline abusive to your daughter! These bits are barely resolved. Actually, almost nothing in this movie is resolved! The little bits of closure that we do get is very forgettable and unsuitable for a picture like this.
Adrian Titieni does a mighty fine job acting. I didn't like his character at all, but he does give some pretty juicy chops. So good that "hate" and "could not stand" are a bit too harsh of terms to describe my reaction to him. Anybody less talented and I would truly have hated him and the movie would have sucked. Director Cristian Mungiu also does a good job in making a gloomy picture that can suck the audience right in.
A few good aspects were not enough to save this. Thumbs down. 6/10