The Locarno festival (Switzerland) is just beginning − the 76e edition takes place from August 2 to 12 − a fierce laughter resounded in the halls of the elegant city bordered by Lake Maggiore. Stripper of the time, the filmmaker Radu Jude struck again, with a film of Godardian collages, Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World (Don’t expect too much from the end of the world), worn by a fascinating theater actress, Ilinca Manolache. Born in 1977, from the Romanian new wave (Cristian Mungiu, Cristi Puiu and Bogdan Mirica), Radu Jude won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 2021 with Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn − the story and the “trial” of a high school teacher, who finds herself blacklisted because of a sexual video revealed on social networks, showing her with her partner.
His tenth feature, which is competing for the Golden Leopard, is arguably the most deeply political and corrosive experience we have ever seen in our 2020s. From a script line, Radu Jude embroiders a tale of a thousand and one nights of the absurd: in Bucharest, a young production assistant, Angela (Ilinca Manolache), works until exhaustion for a multinational which makes films on the prevention of work accidents − see the German actress Nina Hoss as the “benevolent” patroness of this great thing is a delight. Look for the error, Angela misses falling asleep at the wheel as her schedule is loaded… And this is only the beginning of the epic, divided into two parts.
We discover the young woman in the early morning. On radar, she emerges from the bed, puts on panties. The shot after, here she is in a sequined dress and sneakers, blond hair matching the pale complexion, ready for her crazy day. At the wheel of her car, she travels the streets of Bucharest and connects the appointments: she goes to the homes of injured victims at the place of their business and films them while they unfold their misadventure. The “lucky” ones will be selected and then paid to testify before a larger team. Before resuming her frantic race, Angela usually finds a few seconds to post a salacious video under her angry avatar – a young mustachioed man who vomits horrors on girls.
Damning testimony
Then it’s back. The camera on board the vehicle films her in profile, frantically shifting gears and forming large bubbles with her chewing gum, probably as an airbag. We shudder in this supercharged cabin. Later, Radu Jude silences the infernal noise (phone ringtones, insults, etc.) to film crosses in memory of those killed, Romania holding the record for the number of road deaths, at European Union level .
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