{"id":919,"date":"2008-07-20T07:54:10","date_gmt":"2008-07-20T11:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=919"},"modified":"2022-10-11T16:44:06","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T20:44:06","slug":"4-months-3-weeks-2-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/4-months-3-weeks-2-days\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Writer and director Cristian Mungiu’s 4 luni, 3 s?pt?m\u00e2ni ?i 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days)<\/em> is an unsensational drama on a very sensational topic. Like Cristi Puiu’s The Death of Mr. Lazarescu<\/em>, it is shot in Dogme<\/a> style with a handheld camera, long takes, and no score. Both films remorselessly lead the viewer through journeys likely undertaken by many throughout human history, of which most of the rest would rather look away from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although it seems ridiculous to talk about such a serious film in terms of “spoilers”, I do wish to caution any readers who have not yet seen the film to stop here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1987 Romania, students Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) and Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) pool their money and make elaborate plans for an unspecified illicit event. What exactly the two young women seek is withheld for some time, building considerable suspense. No matter one’s political or religious beliefs, it is a simple fact that any society in which abortion is illegal produces a corresponding black market in dangerous back-alley procedures. 4 Months<\/em> is not a passionate argument for or against the legality of abortion, but rather an unadorned illustration of two women’s experiences obtaining one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 Months<\/em> begs comparison with another naturalistic film on a similar theme: Mike Leigh’s Vera Drake<\/em>. It would be reductive to say 4 Months<\/em> is a “better” film, but in comparison, it does make Vera Drake<\/em> seem like a conventional courtroom drama with overly emotive acting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Writer and director Cristian Mungiu’s 4 luni, 3 s?pt?m\u00e2ni ?i 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) is an unsensational drama on a very sensational topic. Like Cristi Puiu’s The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, it is shot in Dogme style with a handheld camera, long takes, and no score. Both films remorselessly lead […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,2],"tags":[2006,2007,1059,2008,1060],"class_list":["post-919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-4-stars","category-movies","tag-2006","tag-anamaria-marinca","tag-cristian-mungiu","tag-laura-vasiliu","tag-romania"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/4-months-3-days-2-hours-feature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-eP","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":853,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/laura-veirs-bowery-ballroom\/","url_meta":{"origin":919,"position":0},"title":"Laura Veirs live at Bowery Ballroom, New York","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"May 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This blogger has been a big fan of the bespectacled, water-obsessed Laura Veirs ever since first discovering her infectious song \"Galaxies\" on the late & lamented MP3 blog Salon Audiofile in 2005. Why it was not a huge hit, featured in iPod and car commercials, or soundtracking the denouements of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Laura Veirs","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/veirs1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5831,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-truman-show-is-a-true-gem\/","url_meta":{"origin":919,"position":1},"title":"The Truman Show is a true gem","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A true gem. 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That hectic time brings back three distinct feelings for this blogger: bewilderment at the founding fathers' purpose for the Electoral College (as everyone no doubt remembers, it was never in doubt\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/recount-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/recount-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/recount-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/recount-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/recount-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":813,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-savages\/","url_meta":{"origin":919,"position":3},"title":"Who abandoned whom in Tamara Jenkins’ The Savages?","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"May 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Savages is the story of a fractured family, separated not least by geography, that reunites on the occasion of an aged parent's health. Both siblings haven't seen their father in years, so what was probably a slow decline seems to them a sudden plunge into senility. 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Similar in style to their first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Music"","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/main-menu\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/no-man-bowness-wilson.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/no-man-bowness-wilson.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/no-man-bowness-wilson.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/no-man-bowness-wilson.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/no-man-bowness-wilson.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":850,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/youth-without-youth\/","url_meta":{"origin":919,"position":5},"title":"Tim Roth undertakes an old man’s folly in Francis Ford Coppola’s Youth Without Youth","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"May 20, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Youth Without Youth received a shockingly poor reception for the first film in years from a major filmmaker, garnering a middling 43 on Metacritic and a painful 29 from RottenTomatoes. 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