Having made an impression on the short film circuit with 2018’s European Film Award winner The Christmas Gift, Romanian director Bogdan Muresanu returns to that world in expanded form with his first feature, The New Year That Never Came, first unveiled as part of the Orizzonti competition at the Venice Film Festival. The subject matter should make it a hot ticket among arthouse enthusiasts, while the satirical tone has the potential to engender crossover appeal.
The action unfolds on December 20, 1989. The Romanian Revolution has already begun, with unrest in the streets as a result of the gradual fall of Communism across the Eastern Bloc. Not that the government would let any of that slip: the official mandate in a TV studio is to record a New Year’s program singing the praises of the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu (euphemistically and derisively called “Nea Nicu”- Uncle Nick- by some of his detractors, an ironic take on a traditional form of endearment), while the secret police monitors suspicious activity. While tensions are at an all-time high, six different stories progressively converge as the country decides it might just have had enough of the regime.
The title refers to the broadcast, whose fraught production symbolically sets the stage for Ceausescu being deposed (he was executed on December 25), in a riveting crescendo of multiple narrative strands coming together to paint an expanded picture of the events of that month. “This film offers a symphonic view of a historical event that has perhaps been portrayed too often in our films through only one lens,” says the director in his official statement accompanying the Venice premiere, explaining how he – successfully – set out to do something different with a topic Romanian cinema has gone back to on multiple occasions.
Making great use of the old adage that the journey matters more than the destination, Muresanu provides enough context clues without putting the Revolution at the forefront, with the stories of ordinary people providing multiple perspectives on a crumbling regime. Fans of the original short will be particularly delighted to reconnect with actor Adrian Vancica, who reprises his role as a father fearing repercussions when he learns his son went a little too far in including the whole family’s wishes in his Christmas letter (the scene in question is recreated, beat by beat, to darkly hilarious effect).
Harkening back to the aesthetics of the time with equal amounts of respect and irreverence, the director handles a kaleidoscope of controlled chaos which highlights the shared achievements of the two cinematographers – Boroka Biro and Tudor Platon – and the ensemble cast, whose talents find their match in Mure?anu’s precise and sublimely witty script. In evoking a specific moment in time, the movie crafts a timeless tale of human interaction with colorful flourishes and powerfully understated grace notes.
And while the feature is 138 minutes long (a considerable expansion compared to The Christmas Gift’s 23), it never outstays its welcome, each segment feeding the next in an organic manner with the right balance of things said and unsaid. The latter includes the Revolution itself, an unspoken event that almost feels like a cheeky footnote. What really matters, in the grand scheme of things, is the smaller stories surrounding it. The rest, as per Shakespeare, and a 2007 film about a different major Romanian event, is silence.
Director & Screenwriter: Bogdan Muresanu
Cast: Adrian Vancica, Iulian Postelnicu, Emilia Dobrin, Nicoleta Hancu, Andrei Miercure, Mihai Calin
Producers: Bogdan Muresanu, Vanja Kovacevic
Cinematography: Boroka Biro, Tudor Platon
Production design: Iulia Fulicea, Victor Fulicea
Costume design: Dana Anghel
Sound: Raza Studio
Production companies: Kinotopia, All Inclusive Films
World sales: Cercamon
Venue: Venice Film Festival (Orizzonti)
In Romanian
138 minutes
