WHEN EVENING FALLS ON BUCHAREST OR METABOLISM

A blasé filmmaker, a young actress, an arduous shoot, a producer who is not amused: the plot of Porumboiu’s latest film is hardly new, the filmmaking process has been the subject of countless films. But the finely honed formal devices and razor-sharp dialogue produces impressive results. Pleading a stomach ulcer, the director takes time off the set to spend the day with his leading lady. They rehearse one scene until it’s verging on the absurd, have some sex, talk about food, cultural differences, Antonioni, and the interplay of form with content. And form, which is always important in Porumbiou’s work, plays the lead role in a highly self-reflective film that considers the physicality and impact of cinema. In the poised and clinically structured WHEN EVENING FALLS ON BUCHAREST OR METABOLISM, the camera is static and distanced, the angles rigid, the acting self-possessed. The suspense is subtle, the humour refined, the variations cunning and unexpected. If early Porumbiou films led us to expect laugh-out-loud comedy or nail-biting tension, we now see perfect composition from a stimulating director who creates something quite new with every film.
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CORNELIU PORUMBOIU
Born 1975 in Vaslui, Romania.
Studied directing at the National University of Theatre and Cinematography in Bucharest, winning awards at Cannes and Montpellier with the short films he made there. Participated in the Cinéfondation residency programme in Cannes in 2005. His first feature, A FOST SAU N-A FOST? / 12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST (2006), won the Camera d’Or for best debut at Cannes. His POLIŢIST, ADJECTIV / POLICE, ADJECTIVE received the FIPRESCI prize (Un Certain Regard) at Cannes in 2009.


FILMOGRAPHY (SELECTION)
2002 / PE ARIPILE VINULUI / ONE WITH THE WINE (short)
2003 / CĂLĂTORIE LA ORAŞ / A TRIP TO THE CITY (short)
2004 / VISUL LUI LIVIU / LIVIU'S DREAM (short)
2006 / A FOST SAU N-A FOST? / 12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST
2009 / POLIŢIST, ADJECTIV / POLICE, ADJECTIVE
2013 / CÂND SE LASĂ SEARA PESTE BUCUREŞTI SAU METABOLISM / WHEN EVENING FALLS ON BUCHAREST OR METABOLISM